


Warrior Liz

by burmafrd



Category: Roswell (TV 1999)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:42:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 338,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27303577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/burmafrd/pseuds/burmafrd
Summary: AU. Liz is a little different; no aliens and not based in Roswell. Liz takes a very different path in life.
Relationships: Canon - Relationship





	1. Not Quite what was expected

**Author's Note:**

> I know I have played with some dates and times for a lot of things. But hey this is fiction!
> 
> I wrote this back in 2010. An earlier version was posted on Fanfiction.net

Liz Parker sat down in the library of the High School of Worland, Wyoming. It was small, just like the school, just like the town. She spent a fair amount of time there, which was reflected in her grades. She was probably going to be the Valedictorian; but that is not much to boast about when the Senior Class was only going to be 86 strong. And a couple will probably fail their finals so the number that graduates will be less than that in the two months to go before Graduation. What Liz Parker was doing right now was this: trying to figure out what to do after Graduation. Despite a near 4.0 GPA, and Valedictorian, and a VERY good SAT score, College was not exactly beckoning. Liz was very well rounded; very smart to extremely smart in the entire major areas of study: Science, Literature, etc. She had no real weakness (well Art- never did seem to figure that out very well). She was known to be studious and hardworking; her mother worked for the City as a secretary for the Town Council; Liz helped out by waitressing at the Ram’s Horn Café. Her father had lit out before Liz was born; she had no memory of him. He had not been heard from since. It had been just her and her mother, Nancy Parker. Which wasn’t so bad. They had not been rich, but not really poor either. But if Liz had wanted anything extra she had had to earn the money herself; which she had. Sad fact was that there were not many jobs available around Worland. It was a small town. Liz did alright as a waitress; but there was no way she was going to keep doing that if there was any other possible alternative.

Elizabeth Claudia Parker, was a 5’1” Brunette; petite but not thin. She was sturdy; carrying heavy plates around for hours a day tends to build you up fairly well; and Liz made a point of running some and otherwise exercising. She was very fit and surprisingly strong for her size. She weighed 110 lbs., which usually surprised anyone when she gave her weight. Boys considered her cute rather than beautiful; and she had a sunny disposition. She did not suffer fools at all, though, and did not put herself out to attract boys. So her social calendar was somewhat limited. Working as much as she did would have limited it anyway. She had not met any boys that would have tempted her to cut down on her hours.

Liz had been aware for quite a while that it would not be easy to even go to community college; the nearest one was well over 100 miles away and you did not commute in this part of the country; the weather would NOT allow it. Not to mention the cost. Liz could probably get a partial scholarship and student loans; but that would leave her with a four year degree and heavy student loans. Couple that with the fact that she did not know what career she wanted and the problem was obvious. While her SAT scores were very high, they were not stratospheric enough to get a full scholarship. She had even for a while considered one of the military academies; but the process required congressional help. No joy there. There were entrance exams; but what you had there were thousands of applicants trying for a handful of slots. She would have tried that but found out too late where the last one was; it would have been expensive to go there anyway. Community college was probably just barely possible; but she would have to work almost full time to afford it; and frankly she did not really consider it worth the effort, especially since she had no idea what kind of career really interested her.

And she was determined to get away from Worland. She could not really complain about her life; but it had been decidedly dull. She had some good friends; but not lifelong best bud type of friends. Her mother was also not really interested in staying there; she had just been sort of stuck. She had gotten a good job and had realized that it was just smart to stay. Both of them would have no problem leaving and not coming back. The area was beautiful, but the climate was frigid in the winter and way too hot in the summer and too dry all around.

So as she sat there during study hall, this fairly nice day in early April (sunny and lower 50’s, a little windy), contemplating her future, or lack thereof. Somehow Liz knew that she needed to get away from Worland, and Wyoming. She had no desire to hit the big cities, but small towns had paled on her. She also wanted a better climate. And some excitement. An idea had come to her and she was now looking at it. 

“Liz, are you sure about this?”

“Not even close to sure, Mom, but my options are limited.”

Nancy Parker sighed. Her daughter was bright; very bright. She deserved to go to college. But the location that she and Liz had been stuck at for almost 18 years was not advantageous as regards that goal. Nancy just knew, and this was NOT a mother’s partiality, that Liz would have been high up in the senior class of any high school in the country. Maybe not valedictorian, but close. Her SAT’s showed that. But a little high school in Wyoming was not going to impress anyone. While Liz’s accomplishment in a large high school would certainly have gotten her full scholarships to several universities, being valedictorian of Worland Wyoming High school did not get it done. 

Liz smiled at her mother. “Mom, for the one thousandth time do not blame yourself. When he split on us, you were stuck. You were VERY lucky to get a good job. And smart to keep it. It allowed us to live comfortably in this small but reasonably cozy home. I got a pretty good primary education; not great but good. Yes it did work against me as regards opportunity for college. But overall pretty good, and much better than the probable alternatives. This was not a bad place to grow up at all.”

“OK, honey, I will not go there. I see how you have grown up and become a fine young woman and I realize part of that reason was where we lived.”

“MOST of that reason was you, Mom. Never forget that.”

“Fine, then. That still brings us to the point about you wanting to go to college and frankly not being able to. And a lot of that reason because of where we are.”

“No argument mom. Which is why this alternative has to be carefully checked out; which I have been doing this past week. Mostly at school on the Library computer since it has a much faster connection speed then ours does.”

“Cody?”

“That is the nearest one. I am fairly certain which way I want to go but they have all three there so I will have a conversation with all of them.”

“Three?”

“No way am I considering THAT one. I believe if you go that route you are looking at making it a career and that is NOT my intention.”

“Certainly not. You sure you want to go by yourself?”

“Better that way. And you do not want to take time out from your job; I will have a free Friday next week and will do it then.”

“Well I can get a ride in with Louise so that is not a problem. And it’s not really that much of a drive.”

“Not for people who live in this part of the country, certainly.”

And so that next Friday Liz found herself leaving just before dawn and driving to Cody Wyoming. She did not push and so she got there just before 9. Just as the office was opening.

She was the first one in outside of the person opening it up; she looked around and saw that while there were two other small offices they were closed. She looked at the one that was in.

“They will probably not come in until later. They did not have anyone scheduled and while I do not either, one of us has to be here. We have a rotation.”

“OK. I intend to be here all day; I want to talk to them as well.”

“So you are interested in a career in the US Army?”

Staff Sergeant William Jones had been a recruiter for almost two years; he had another year to go before moving on. He took pride in the fact that he had never lied to any recruit; and pretty much had never led them on at all. This young lady looked like a possibility. While rather small, she appeared sturdy and gave off an air of intelligence and confidence. She was carrying a folder; looked like she was prepared to talk and ask questions. He much preferred someone like that then someone who just wandered in out of curiosity.

“I am Staff Sergeant William Jones. Just call me Bill. And you are?”

“Elizabeth Parker, from Worland.”

“You must have gotten up fairly early to get here before 9.”

“Not really; it took me less than two hours and I did not push it. I am used to getting up at 5 or so anyway.”

“Well that is a very good trait to have if you are looking at going into the Military. We do NOT keep bankers hours.”

“Bill, I have done some research and have gone online and checked things out. I think I have a fairly good idea but talking to a recruiter is a must.”

“I like someone who has prepared. Another good trait to have in the service.”

“You gotta have a plan.”

Bill grinned at that. He liked this girl.

“Elizabeth, the military does NOTHING without a plan.”

“Call me Liz. I kind of figured that.”

“High School senior?”

“Yep. Here are my transcripts.”

Bill blinked a little at that. Not many thought to bring them. He took the folder and looked. Impressive; probably going to be the valedictorian; those SATs are VERY good. After another minute or so he handed them back to her.

“Very impressive Liz. I can truthfully say that no one I have seen since I have been a recruiter, and that is going on three years, has had as good a school record as you do. I take it that college is just not in the cards because of money?”

“Pretty much. Being valedictorian of a class of maybe 86 is not very impressive. At least not to those that deal out scholarships. And while I did very well on my SAT’s, not high enough.”

“Well, if you are looking at joining the Army in order to get to college later on, that is something we do a lot of. And that is why you are here.”

“Pretty much. I figure four years with what I can get while in the service, and what I can save and what the GI Bill will help me with, will allow me to do college with a whole lot less debt than any other way open to me.”

“Thousands do it every year from all the services. And I am always happy to have someone motivated and ready, which you certainly seem to be. Do you have an idea of what career you want?”

“That is another reason for going this route. I really have no idea what I want to do; and it would not be of the good to get halfway through, working my fingers to the bone on a job outside of college, then find out what I wanted and to have wasted time and money because I need to go in another direction.”

Bill nodded. She certainly did have a plan and had been looking around and researching. All in all she might be, if she did go with the Army, the best recruit he had ever signed up. 

They talked for over an hour; Liz took detailed notes and asked some very good questions.

“There are a number of MOS’s open for you; while you cannot quite have your pick it’s not far off. Anything catch your fancy?” 

“While I am proficient as regards computers, and realize that that is an area that is a must in this world, I would prefer not to go into any computer heavy area.”

“OK. Here are some possibilities.”

Liz spent half an hour going down the list. Finally deciding on two.

“88M and 89B. Motor operator and Ammunition Specialist. Interesting; do you have an interest in big trucks and blowing things up?” 

“Big trucks, maybe; blowing things up, not so much. If I did I would have gone for EOD.”

“Truck driver is basically what 88M is. And to be honest, Liz, you are small.”

“REALLY?”

Bill just had to grin at that. He liked her more and more. If not for the very steady girlfriend he had in town, Liz would be on his list for sure.  
“Not saying you could not do it; but it would be tough and you would be riding on phone books all the time.”

“Very funny. Now for truth; would it be that tough?”

“Yeah, Liz, it would be. So if those are the two that interest you then Ammunition Specialist is the better way to go. And it is a specialty that usually has a fair number of vacancies. Most people do not want to handle explosives.”

“Well that does not bother me, or at least I do not think so. And by a good number of vacancies that should mean that I would have a good chance of going somewhere half decent.”

“That you would. By half decent I mean the larger Army posts like Ft Hood, Ft Stewart, Ft Riley and so on. Because that is where the larger units are stationed and where more ammo and more ammo users are stationed.”

“OK. So walk me through the process of what I would go through if this is the route I choose.”

And he spent the next 45 minutes doing that. It was coming unto 1130 when the Navy and Air Force recruiters came in. Liz decided to talk to the Air force recruiter and then the Navy recruiter.

Rather tired, Liz made it back by 530 that afternoon. She talked briefly to her mother, ate dinner then tumbled into bed. She would use the Saturday to go over her notes and talk to her mother. But in her mind she had just about made her decision.

On the third of May, 2001 Elizabeth Parker signed papers enlisting in the US Army as an 89B Ammunition Specialist for four years. Sergeant Bill, as she called him, had talked to people and had given her a detailed list of what would be going on. She had asked him about physical training and he had told her to try and be at 3 miles running per day and work on pull ups and sit-ups.

She worked on that steadily over the next two months; she would graduate on 6 June and on 11 June report to Ft Benning, GA for Basic Training. She was lucky in that she would be able to get both basic and her follow on specialty training there.

Her friends were frankly surprised; but as she explained her decision they understood. A couple of them even started to look into the same thing. Liz was a little sad that she did not have any really close friends; but that is the way it was. At least that made leaving a little easier. She really made a point of working hard to get into better physical shape and to research what she would be learning both in Basic and Advanced training. 8 weeks Basic, then 4 Weeks advanced. 

Some of her teachers at the High School had hoped she would find a way to college, and moreover hoped she would not have to go this route. But they also understood and supported her. 

By the time she got on the place to fly out, Liz Parker was in the best shape of her life. She had been able to get up to 5 miles a day running just in that last week; and she could now do 30 pull ups and 100 sit-ups. Which were well above the minimums required.

She would have 8 weeks of Basic Training; then 4 Weeks of AIT MOS training. She would get a week’s leave after the AIT training. So after 12 weeks she would be trained and then sent to her unit, wherever that may be. So sometime in September she would be going to her home station. Odds were that it would be one of the big posts from Hood to Bragg to Riley, etc.

Liz Parker sat on her bunk at Ft Benning in Basic Training section 44A. Basic Training was NOT coed; all men or all women. The AIT training afterwards might be. This first day had been a little confusing for her; nowhere near as much as for just about everyone else in her platoon of 40. It surprised her, that with information on this fairly easy to find out, that more had not. She had found herself answering some of the questions since they had noticed that she seemed unsurprised and prepared. The first day, as their Drill Sergeant, Serena Williams, told them, would be the easiest. They had lined up; been assigned sections, then had drawn their uniforms and basic equipment. That had taken all morning. Then had come Chow; lunch chow anyway. Not the greatest but not too bad. She had started to get to know the other girls in her section.

Maria Deluca was a diva, no doubt about it. Why a Diva was in the army was a story in itself. Basically she had gotten pissed off with her home life and decided on a massive change. Liz was still snickering at that. Tess Harding was a really beautiful blond, but seemed to be OK. Isabelle Evans was a tall, classically beautiful blond, and a little stuck up but not too bad. Those three had latched onto Liz as one who already had an idea of what was going on and more importantly, what to expect. Maria had asked her how she knew.

“Well, months ago I looked at my situation in Worland, Wyoming and realized that going to college would be really difficult and since I had no real idea what career I wanted, could very well be a waste of time. Just getting a regular job would be pretty much impossible for a high school graduate. So I started to look at the military. I looked things up online and did some research. Then I drove to Cody Wyoming to the nearest recruiter and talked to Army, Navy and Air Force. Spent a couple of hours with each one and had them answer some basic questions. Then went home and researched some more and went to some military forums online and listened and asked questions there. When I decided on the Army, the recruiter got more information for me and suggested other places to look. I used the next two months doing that and working out and getting physically ready. So I got a pretty good idea on what was going to happen, when, and just as important why they do the things the way they do. A fair amount of the time there are good reasons for it. Sometimes its tradition; and sometimes there is no reason- it’s just the way the Army does things.” 

Isabelle had blinked at all that. “Wow. You really prepared.”

Tess nodded. “Which is something we all should have done more of.”

Maria laughed. “Well, Liz, I am betting you always have a plan.”

Liz had grinned. “Ya gotta have a plan.” 

The first month ground by; Liz was about the third best physically prepared in her platoon; two good former track team members were ahead of her in most areas; but she was just about the top of the class as regards being able to do pull-ups and sit-ups and the other physical things beyond running. She found herself helping out the other three girls who she had gotten to be friends with the most, but helping out any others that asked. Nothing had really surprised her; and so far nothing had been too hard or too complicated for her.

Serena and her deputy, Susan Sullivan, a staff sergeant, were going over the reports and reviews of the first month with Section 44A. Serena sat back and took a sip of coffee.  
“Well, we got lucky with this section. No real problems so far. Might not lose anyone.”

Susan snorted. “Way too early to say that; but I agree I think we got lucky.”

“So far we got the usual mix; Diva and farm girl; big city and small town; poor and fairly well off. No real rich ones and no refugees from a ghetto. Which is good.”

“So, who are you looking at for section leader?”

Serena raised her eyebrow.

“OK, I know its too early; but who?”

“Not really hard to see who the number one candidate is; but it’s still early.”

“Yeah. She has not yet had to improvise or confront anything that she did not already know about.”

“True, but I cannot remember the last recruit I had that was as well prepared as Parker is.”

“Never seen one as good either. Well the next couple of weeks should tell the tale.” 

Liz was puffing as she finished the obstacle course; it was a little tough on the wall for someone as short as she was. Thankfully the rest of it was actually easier for a short person so overall she could not complain. The upper body strength she had been working on came in real handy. She stood by the rest of the early finishers as the last group made their run. As usual, Maria did the worst. She had never done much of anything physical in her life and it showed. Fortunately for Maria, she had a lot of grit and was as stubborn as all get out. Which was enough for her to so far make it. And she was getting better. Not that you could tell from her comments.

The Drill Sergeant was talking to someone so they had a couple of minutes to rest; which was not usual in the high speed and very well filled days that composed Basic Training.

“Liz, it is really not fair you being so short. The wall is the only thing that even slows you down and it’s totally unfair how easy the tunnels are for you. You can almost walk upright.” 

The others laughed at that. Liz grinned.  
“Ya, never knew short could come in so handy.”  
Maria was a blast a lot of the time that her occasional whining was over looked. Tess was actually slightly shorter than Liz and had been getting into better shape so she was doing it almost as easily. Isabelle found that being tall was not so good; Liz had talked to her about a couple of things and she was doing better.

“All right, people, time for Class. Form up and DOUBLE TIME.”

That was one thing that the other girls did not understand; why did they alternate physical drills and training with class time; why not spend all morning on one and all afternoon on another. Liz had explained from what she had learned.  
“It’s so you do not get comfortable. Basic Training is meant to weed out the week and the stupid. The harder it is, the more of them that go now.”

“It’s our bad luck that timeout cards are gone.”

Liz laughed at the petulance of Maria.  
“It was always stupid and it lasted only a few years. There is no timeout in combat or when the situation is bad. You think the other side is going to accept your timeout card?”

Serena and Susan had overheard that, and had looked at each other with slight smiles. 

“Recruit Parker present as ordered, Sergeant.”

“At ease, Parker.”

Liz then went to the at ease position. She had practiced this even before coming to Benning, and had gotten it right before anyone else.

“Parker, in the last two weeks of Basic a Section Leader is chosen. It was an easy decision this time for this section. No one else was as well prepared and ready as you were; and you have shown some ability to react to situations that you were not fully prepared for. You will now wear this ARM patch designating you as section leader. I will now have Sergeant Sullivan explain what that means.”

“Parker, you were one of the lowest of the lows. A Recruit. You are now one step up from the gutter. Section Leader. You can lose it as fast as you got it if you screw up. From this point on it will be up to you to get everyone ready in the morning, and down at night. And any problem any of the others have will go through you first. But then that has pretty much been the way it has been in this section since the first day so no change there. Any questions?”

“Sergeant, just how far am I allowed to go to get things done?”

Serena and Susan both raised their eyebrows at this unexpected question. Serena chose to answer it.  
“Not quite as far as we are allowed to go, Parker. Is that all?”

“Yes, Sergeant.”

“Dismissed.”

After she left Serena looked at Susan. “Now that was a surprise.”

“Yeah. Think she was expecting this?”

“Maybe. She had to know about section leaders, as well prepared as she was. There really was no one else that fit the bill; the couple of wannabe’s do not count.”

As she walked back to the Barracks, Liz went back to the last 6 weeks, scenes flashing through her head.

Liz sighted down the rifle; her M16A2 longer and heavier than the new M4 carbine, but she would not see that until she reached her final unit, if then. Liz had never fired a gun in her life and this was familiarization. Taking a deep breath she sighted on the target and fired. The weapon kicked and the sound hit her even through her hearing protection. She kept firing until her magazine was empty, then pulled it out and opened the bolt. Waiting for the range safety officer to do anything else.

A couple of minutes later the target sheets were brought forward and they all looked at their scores. Liz was pleasantly surprised that she had not missed the target with any of her shots, even if all of them had not gotten inside the rings. Sergeant Williams looked at her sheet.  
“Not bad, Parker. Ever fire a weapon before?”

“No sergeant; not even in an arcade or video game.”

“Then that is good. You have a decent pattern here; shows you maintained your stance and followed procedures. Keep it up and you might make Sharpshooter.”

Maria was sadly looking at her target which was pristine.  
“Wow, I suck.”

Tess and Isabelle had not done too bad and were trying to console Maria.

“All right people let’s do it again. You know what you did right and wrong; so you will do better.”

Liz was a little more comfortable and was able to concentrate better; her score went up and now there was a solid grouping inside the rings.

Maria had managed to hit the target a couple of times. Sergeant Sullivan was shaking her head.  
“Well, Deluca, some people are just natural born poor shots. But I am not yet willing to let you off the hook. Parker, you seem to have it down pretty well; you will assist Deluca and fire off three more magazines. You others will also work on your marksmanship.”

Liz worked hard with Maria, finally getting her to relax by telling her to imagine the targets were someone she really hated; that seemed to do the trick and by the last magazine she was getting most of the bullets on the target.

Williams looked at the last target.  
“Deluca, do not worry about ever making sharpshooter. But it looks like you do have hope of qualifying. Dismissed.”

Liz faced Tracey Jones, one of the track athletes, on the mat in the Basic Hand to Hand drills. Liz knew she had a slight advantage for this being shorter, and intended to use it. Tracey made her move and Liz went low for a leg and got Tracey down, who then twisted loose to find Liz on her feet and ready again.

Liz felt pretty well after that day; Maria too. Maria turned out to have good instincts for hand to hand, which she explained as being necessary by having three older brothers. Tess and Isabelle had also done well.

Maria and the other two raised their eyebrows at Liz wearing an ARM band that had two stripes on it.  
“Chica, what is that about?”

“The last two weeks of basic, the Drill Sergeant selects one of the recruits to act as section leader. That means I get to do the dirty work of getting people up and down. More work for no more pay.”

Tess grinned. “That sounds like the Army.”

The Sergeants came into the building and all the recruits stood up and came to attention next to their bunks.  
“Allright people a little news. Parker has been selected to be section leader for the last two weeks of Basic. That means she has to make sure that you are up for the morning and down for the night and that any complaints you have you start with her and she will decide if you come to us. If you bypass Parker you better have talked to her first or your ass is mine. IS THAT CLEAR!”

“CLEAR, SERGEANT.”

“Very well. Lights out in 1 hour.”

A few of the other girls came over to congratulate Liz, who pointed out that she got nothing but more grief for the arm band.

Needless to say, the last two weeks were a lot tougher on Liz than anyone else; but much to her surprise she did not screw up and only had to take something to the Sergeants once. And no one went over her head.

The two sergeants were relaxing the last night of the Basic. Their reports and recommendations were done. Serena smiled.  
“These last two weeks were pretty easy. Parker did a good job.”

“Well I really appreciate that; since most of what she had been doing was what I usually did.”

“I bet you do. I think Parker has a future in this military if she wants it.”

“I hope she does. We need a lot more like her.”

After Basic came AIT, which was different for each MOS. Liz felt lucky in that the other girls would be staying at Benning for the AIT parts of their training. Liz actually had one of the longer ones at 4 Weeks. The other girls were shorter; they would share some classes. And Liz had worked a little on the DS and they were going to get one of the four person rooms together for AIT. Though after 3 weeks Liz would be the last one there as the others would be done.

Liz began to learn about ammunition; and before long she realized that while 4 weeks might seem a long time, for something this complicated that was only the beginning. She asked her chief MOS instructor why it was not longer.

“Parker, it’s because Ammunition is not High Profile. It should be; after all without it we are throwing rocks. But the Brass and the desk soldiers think so and that is all that matters. I see you have been doing as much extra as you can and that is very good. With Ammunition what you do not know CAN kill you. Whichever unit you go to, there should be QASAS there. If you can get to meet them and talk to them; they are the Army experts on Ammunition. And if you can talk your officers into it, take every chance you can to go to the ASP and help out and learn more. The more you learn the safer you are.”

Now that Basic was over, they were given Sundays off. And allowed to leave the post during the day. Not that there was all that much off post in this area. Liz felt lucky as the other girls agreed with that and felt no need to leave; so they just relaxed on Sundays and had girl talk.

She got to know them all a lot better; and was beginning to feel like she would make some very good friends. Of course none of them knew what posts they would be assigned to after AIT. Tess was going to supply as was Maria; and Isabelle would be a truck driver. Technically Liz was in support as well.

Liz walked away from the ceremony where the small MOS 89B class had graduated. There had only been 20 there; most of them men. Only 4 women. Liz had been surprised to find that she was top student again. As such she was given a little leeway as regards assignments. She had gotten word that Isabelle and Maria and Tess had all been sent to the 3rd Infantry Division in Ft Stewart, Georgia; so she decided to ask for that as well and got it. It might be hot and muggy there, but that was fine with her. It was Friday, September 7, 2001. She was due to report NLT 14 Sept 2001. She was catching a plane back to Wyoming that night. She was eager to see her mother again. She would leave on Monday, 10 September to get to Ft Stewart that night. 

Nancy felt so proud as she picked up Liz at the Airport. She looked very good in her uniform; and there was something more confident and assured about her as well.

“Honey, you look great.”

“Thanks, Mom. I do feel good. Basic and AIT out of the way; going to the same post that Maria and the others are at is real good. I have some good friends there.”

“I am so glad to see you make friends. And so proud you were section leader and top student in your class.”

“I was real surprised about the Section Leader thing, though looking back I should not have been. And there were only 20 in my MOS class. Like being Valedictorian here.”

“That reminds me. You got a call from Sergeant Jones.”

“Ya, need to thank him. With what he told me and where to go for more information, there was little that surprised me.”

Just being home and with her mother and relaxing for a couple of days really made a difference for Liz. Yet she realized that she no longer really looked at Worland as home now. 

Liz got to Savannah, Georgia late in the afternoon of the 10th. She contacted Maria and the girls came out and greeted her.

“Chica, this place is not bad. AT least the weather is cooling off some; the summer here is not pleasant.”

They had a good time and Liz then went to her motel room; she would report in first thing in the morning.

Luckily Liz had gotten one of the new CAC cards when she left Benning; that helped smooth things along as she came onto post. She had her CAC and a copy of her orders so the guards directed her right to in processing.

As was usual with the Army, it was hurry up and wait. By 0830 she had gotten to the point that she had post quarters assigned and the basics were done. She would report to her company commander and go from there. The Ordnance Company on this post apparently had a decent office; which was rare for Ammo types, as she had been informed by her instructor at Benning. She was lucky in that not many were in processing at the same so she moved along well. It was 900 when she stepped into the building where the ordnance Company was stationed.

“Private Parker, 89B reporting for duty sir.”

Captain Simmons took a look at his new soldier. Elizabeth Parker was petite and cute; but looked competent and fit and ready. Which was good. He looked at her paperwork. Hmm. Section Leader at Basic; top of her class at 89B MOS AIT. That was good. Maybe he had someone who could get the job done.

“At ease, Parker. Looks like you have done well so far. I am taking a chance and saying that you realize that you are only at the very beginning of understanding Ammunition?”

“Yes Sir. My instructor told me to pester you to spend as much time at the ASP as possible and to get as much time talking to the QASAS as you could if you want to learn the job well.”

“Good Advice. Way too many ordnance companies in the Army do not take their training all that seriously. I only took over the company 3 months ago and that was certainly true here. I am trying to change that mindset. I am hoping you can get a lot of work done.”

“You will get my best sir.”

“I expect nothing less. Sergeant Axton will be the head honcho for the MOS 89B people; I will have him take over. Dismissed.” 

Sergeant Axton was a big burly man; black as it was as possible to be. But clearly competent and easy to understand so Liz felt good. He had her in his office going over the paperwork and such when there was a sound of an alarm. 

Axton was on his feet and out the door with Liz right behind him. They were into the Captain’s office where he was standing with a hard look on his face, listening to a conversation on the phone.

“Yes sir. We will head right to the ASP and start preparing sir.”

He put the phone down and faced Axton, Liz and a couple others in his office.

“Half an hour ago a plane hit the World Trade center in Chicago; another one just did the same. It is considered an attack. Worldwide the US just went to DEFCON 3. We will go on alert. The Post will be closed down; we are going to the ASP and get ready to issue go to war ammunition. Axton, keep Parker with you. She was high student in her class at Benning and is fresh from it; probably will be the best person to help you out. Move People.”

Liz followed Axton desperately trying to control herself. Instinctively she knew that everything had changed. She was going to war.

First thing they did was go to the Arms room; Captain Simmons quickly filled out an emergency issue form for Liz to get a M4; they had just changed over from the M16A2. Luckily Liz had been able to get in some practice with one before leaving Benning so it was not totally new to her. Getting live ammo and magazines was, though. The she and Axton piled into a Hummer and headed for the ASP (Ammunition Supply Point-where the ammo is stored). Liz was glad she had given Maria her duffle bag last night; it would be secure in her room. She just had her overnight bag and a few things with her. Axton actually thought about that on the way.

“Parker, where is your bag?”

“Have some friends here, Sergeant. They met me last night. Took it with them. I only have my overnight bag. Did not feel like lugging that around this morning.”

Axton nodded approvingly. “Good thinking. Really good thinking the way things are going down.”

“We are going to war.” It was a statement.

“No doubt about it. This is almost certainly Middle East Arab Terrorists; we will be going right to the source real fast.”

Liz nodded as she looked around. The camp looked like a beehive that someone had kicked over. People and soldiers scrambling every which way.

Liz was sober. “I wonder if this is what the country looked like on December 7, 1941? Though the difference was that was a Sunday and most people were expecting war to come sooner or later. This is one out of the blue.”

“Yep. Well we are a whole lot better prepared for this war then we were with that one.”

“I saw pictures of recruits carrying brooms instead of rifles. Wooden boxes on bicycle wheels marked as tanks. We were really not ready for WW2.”

Axton was thoughtful. Parker appeared to have settled down pretty quickly. And her observations were dead on. This was early; but it was a good sign. They needed good people in the Ordnance Company and the reality was they did not have many. They were understrength, undertrained, and while the new captain had made some strides and had gotten rid of the worst of the dead wood, what was left might be competent but not very well trained.

They pulled up to the guard shack of the ASP. Axton was glad to see that the guard had been reinforced already.

“Sergeant Nolan. Have you been briefed?”

“Just been told to lock down and be ready. Some rumors flying around.”

“Two planes hit the world trade center in New York. It was not an accident. World Wide we are at Defcon 3.”

“Oh, shit.”

“Yeah. The Captain will be down soon. This is Private Parker, fresh from Benning. We will need to modify the roster.”

“Gotcha Sarge. Let’s get to work.”

Liz quickly signed some forms; and kept copies. Luckily the sergeant had old fashioned carbon paper. There was no copier around. In 15 minutes they were headed to the bunker where the division Unit Load Small arms were located. This was the ready ammo; the immediate go to war ammo if war came to Ft Stewart. Axton had Liz start to make out generic 1348-1 forms, to issue ammunition to troops. Liz made out some with what she knew would be security and guard force ammo. Leaving out units and amounts. Just filling in the other details.

It was not long before some forklifts showed up. Axton had a copy of the planograph for that bunker, which showed where everything was and who it belonged too. Though luckily most of the pallets had placards on them identifying which units they belonged to. Working on instinct, Liz had the drivers pull out the Ammo for the MP Company, and the current guard unit that would be used as the reactionary force. That force would back up the MP and Guards if something happened.

Axton came back from the gate and observed what Parker was doing. She was an E2 now but her uniform had not changed since she was not an E2 until she reported in. No matter. She had the drivers moving anyway. And he approved what she was doing. Girl had a head on her shoulders.

Liz had had some time and had gone through some scenarios back at Benning. She had asked the instructor what would be issued first in an emergency and he had given her an idea. She had worked a little on it herself in her spare time. That was what she was working off of; she had her notes with her.

Captain Simmons saw Axton at the Gate checking out the trucks that had already shown up. Some commercial loads were waiting and had been secured with some MPS. Luckily nothing important.  
“Sergeant. How are we doing?”

“Good so far Sir. When the first units show up looking for ammo we should be ready. Parker has a head on her shoulders; she already has the forklift drivers pulling out pallets of the ready force and for the Guards and MPs.”  
“Well that is good. Because so far none of the other 89B’s have shown up.”

Axton looked at him and shook his head. Not that he was surprised; they only had 3 others right now and none of them had been here that long or knew that much. Sad to say, Parker might be the best he had. Axton was an 89B and experienced, but the Captain had been regular infantry and had not had much of a chance to learn since he had been sorting out the mess the ordnance company had been.

Almost immediately trucks and hummers started showing up with officers and sergeants screaming for Ammunition. Captain Simmons had gotten through to the EOC and they had told him to only issue ammo to the MPs and Reaction force. To be ready for more but not to issue more. He was happy to hear that; he did not want everyone running around with lots of ammo right now. Too many people were way too jumpy.

Isabelle sat in her truck and shook her head. She looked at Tess and Maria who were in the cab with her. The transportation company, where all three were currently assigned, wanted their ammo. They had been sent to the ASP to get some. Tess voiced her thoughts.  
“I really do not want everyone around here with a loaded rifle.”

Maria snorted. “That is for sure.”

Isabelle smirked. “Especially you.”

“Hey!”

Maria grinned anyway then had a thought and grabbed her personal cell phone.  
The other two looked at her. Maria winked. “Calling Liz. I bet she is already at the ASP.”

Liz took a deep breath and sat down on a half pallet of 5.56 ball. The last hour had been a rush. Captain Simmons had remained firm and had maintained only a few units- the Reaction Force and the MP’s- would get their full combat loads. No one else. Needless to say there were a few at the entrance raising hell about that. Liz had already filled out and issued the ammo to those units; Sergeant Axton had countersigned. So far so good. Looked like she would get a moment to relax. She was glad she had brought some water with her. They needed some here. Then her cell phone went off.  
“Maria? You at the gate? No way. Nope. You can let your captain know that this is from the General. Only the reaction force and the MPS get their bullets and that has already happened. It’s going to take a brigade commander at the least to get any more. Yeah got that from Sergeant Axton who got that from Captain Simmons.”

Maria nodded and looked at Isabelle. “You want to tell the Captain?”

She grimaced. “Not really.”

Suddenly there a thumping on the door. Isabelle opened it to their Captain.  
“Evans, what is the hold up?”

“Captain, just got talking to someone we know inside the ASP. Only the MPs and Guard Reaction force will be getting issued anything else then what they have in their guard rooms. No one else is getting a spare bullet from the ASP and that is from the General.”

“Damn. I just found out that just before he left on leave Lt Short turned in all but 30 rds into the ASP. That is all the whole transportation company has.”

The three women groaned. Maria looked thoughtful.  
“Liz. Listen, we had a dumbshit Lt turn in all but one magazine on Friday. The whole company has zip. Is there anything you can do? OK.”

Maria looked at the captain. “Our friend inside will see what she can do.”

“Who is this friend?”

“Liz Parker, fresh from Benning and an 89B. From what I have heard she might be the only one in there right now.”

Liz closed her phone and bit her lip. She sighed and looked for the Sergeant. He was talking to a couple of others and she went up to them.  
“Sergeant, can we do anything for the transportation company of the 1st Brigade. They had a dumb Lt turn in all but 30 rds on Friday. Which is not even their guard force quota. Then he went on leave.”

Axton shook his head. “Well I can guess that is one shavetail that will have his tail really shaved when he gets back. Not sure, Parker. Let’s go talk to the Captain.”

Captain Simmons was sitting in the guard shack. He had ordered the guards to let no one in unless they had orders from at least a brigade commander. He had called the ASP office and had found out some worse news; neither QASAS was on post. One was on leave and not due back until Friday, and the other had taken emergency leave due to a death in the family-and had left on Monday. They were both halfway across the country and with all aircraft being ordered to land it was a cinch that neither one would be back in the next few days. He looked up as Axton and Parker came into the shack.

“Captain, we got a request. Parker, fill him in.”

Simmons listened for a minute. “If anyone sees another unit leaving with ammo it will raise hell. But I do see their problem.”

Liz thought for a minute. “Captain, what if someone shows up with say water and such for us; we need it. And they can leave with some ammo and no placards; we can go with security reasons for the no placards.”

Axton and Simmons looked at each other and then at Liz. Simmons shook his head.  
“Sneaky, Parker, but not illegal. OK. Tell them to bring what we need in a hummer and we will let them go out with some ammo.”

Maria listened and shook her head. “Wow, Liz is sneaky.”  
She looked at the Captain. “Liz cut us a deal. They need water and a few things there; if we bring it in a closed off hummer they will let us out with ammo if we do not use placards to let anyone else know we got some.”

The Captain blinked and smiled. “Deal. And that is sneaky, Evans turn in this thing and get a hummer. Get what they need from the office.”

An hour later the deal was done and Liz was sipping cold water and had some shade from some Tarps they had been able to set up. Luckily there were some Porta potties nearby. Axton and Simmons were also drinking the first cold drink they had had that morning. Axton grinned at Liz.  
“Parker, for a newbie, you catch on fast. First day with your unit and you are cutting deals.”

Simmons also grinned. “You might go far; or you might end up in Leavenworth.”

Liz blushed a little. “I kind of think that you should obey the regs when you can; but if something needs to get done bending them should be considered.”

The Captain and the sergeant nodded. Parker might go far.

After the first day, things settled down. It was not until later in the afternoon that the other 89Bs showed up to get chewed out in sequence by the Sergeant, then the Captain. While they were all just E2’s like Liz, they had all been in for longer. Simmons had checked Liz’s personnel folder and had whistled at her ASVAB scores; they were high. Quite High. He showed it to Axton while they were eating lunch (still at the ASP courtesy of Liz’s friends with the permission of their Captain; he saw the advantage of getting the Ordnance Company commander on his side).  
Axton looked at her file and shook his head.  
“Captain, lets bump her to E3 now. With these scores, and her performance at Benning, its justified under the situation. Since she has not fully processed in yet, we can bring her in at E3.”

“Definitely. That would make sure she can order our other 89Bs around. Which is important. Talk about hitting the ground running. That reminds me; what about her quarters?”

Axton grimaced. “Problem there. I got a call just a few minutes ago that her quarters got reassigned due to the mess. Might have to put her in BEQ.”

“Well nuts to that. Listen, the supply company captain might have slots in their quarters. At least for the time being.”

“I will talk to them; better yet let Parker talk to her friends.”

Liz called Maria. “Maria, I just found out they reassigned the quarters I was supposed to have. You guys got any vacancies?”

Maria looked at Tess who was with her in the office. “Liz needs quarters. You are without a roomy; how about Isabelle move over with you and Liz can bunk with me?”

“OK with me. I will call Isabelle.”

Liz shut down her phone and with a bounce in her stride headed over to tell the Sergeant. 

“Sergeant, it’s fixed. I got quarters with my friends.”

“Good. In the meantime head by the PX and get some E3 rank. The Captain is bumping you up.”

Liz’s eyes grew big. “Really?”

Axton had to grin. For all her maturity, she was still young. “Really.” 

They did not get out of the ASP until after 5. Liz had the drivers put the pallets back in the bunker. Then the sergeant gave her a ride to her quarters, telling her to be ready to roll at 6 the next morning.

Maria and the others were waiting; they were all gathered around a small tv, showing the news. Liz’s happiness took a nose dive as she remembered the day’s events. She quietly sat down next to Maria who put an arm around her.  
“Heavy day, Chica.”

“Yeah.”

Not much later they headed over to the mess hall. Even in there they noticed the subdued atmosphere. They managed to get a table in the corner where it was fairly vacant.  
Maria and the others took turns telling Liz what had been going on. The military had gone down to DEFCON 4 from 3 when no further attacks had occurred. But the base was still on lockdown; and increased security would become the norm.  
Liz smiled when they asked her how things had gone at the ASP.  
“Once the majority realized they were getting nothing they left; still had a few try later on but no big deal. And I got a promotion.”

Maria goggled. “Already?”

“The Captain is going to have me in processed as an E3 due to the situation.”

Tess shook her head. “That was fast; but then you earned it right off the bat anyway. I have been asking around lately and the fact is the ordnance company is not in good shape. Their new captain had to get rid of a lot of dead wood. And you are the first replacement he got.”

Isabelle nodded. “The Captain said the same thing; that the Ordnance Company is probably going to be asking for people to be assigned temporarily. They are under half strength.”

Liz nodded soberly. “Not uncommon for ordnance companies. They get low priority for replacements and promotions so not many want to go there. Which is really stupid for an army; without Ammo you got to throw rocks.”

As it turned out Captain Simmons and Sergeant Axton were discussing the same thing. The Captain had just gotten a phone call while he and the sergeant were trying to eat dinner.  
“Well that is nice. Division wants to know what our personnel situation is since it looks like we are going to war. I guess we should be grateful we do not have to worry about the rotorheads.”

“Yeah, they got their own. But that still leaves one understrength ordnance company for an entire heavy division.”

“Well they did say that we could get temporary help until we get more people in. But I already called Benning; there is not a new 89B class due to start until February. Though that might get bumped up.”

“At least we got some people who can work the TAMIS and other paper work.”

“True. But we are badly short on 89B and really short on competent 89B's. You are our only really experienced man. Parker is really good but no experience.”

“Got a chance to talk to her today. She is a real bookworm. Has all her course material with her and also talked her instructor into giving her all the advanced material. Which she was looking through even today. She spent a lot of her down time at Benning reading and learning more. I asked some questions that she gave good answers too that not many with several years in would be able to answer well. She has the theory down pat; just needs experience. Odds are that we are not going to move for months at least; so we can work her hard. Might even be able to get something out of the rest of them.”

“Well until our QASAS get back we are very short on ammo knowledge. And our division LAR is not going to be much help; he is getting sent to FORSCOM HQ to help plan things there.”

“Realistically Captain, nothing is going to happen for a while. But I do want to talk to the QASAS and have them come down to the ASP and try and get some more knowledge drilled into our people.”

Liz groaned as she rolled over; it was just before 5; no point in trying to stay in bed. She got up and managed to not wake Maria and headed for the showers. She preferred to take her time. Sitting under the shower felt real good; some of the tension started to work its way out. She was so glad to have her friends nearby. The world had changed drastically in the last 24 hours.

Still yawning she padded back to their room. She had laid out her uniform; and Maria had made a point of sewing on her new rank last night. The Captain had told her to hit Personnel at 6; he was going to be there and wanted her all processed. She got dressed and headed to the bus stop; it started at 0530 and would take her right to personnel. 

Captain Simmons headed to Personnel early; he wanted to get Liz squared away. He found her waiting; just as he got to the door they opened up.

Pushing hard, the Captain got Liz in processed by 9. With her new rank. The Personnel officer grumbled about that but shut up when Simmons offered to call Division HQ. They headed to the mess hall and met Axton for Breakfast; he had been working the office early to start dealing with the mountain of paperwork that 9/11 was already generating.

The three sat; the two men somewhat astounded by how much the petite young woman was able to pack away. Axton could not believe it.  
“Parker, do you have a hollow leg or what?”

“Did not eat a whole lot yesterday Sarge, and wanted to make up for it. This way I can go till dinner with no break and be fine. Gotta hunch things are not going to slow down for a while until it becomes obvious that we are not going anywhere for several months at least.”

Simmons was interested. “So you think so?”

“Captain, Afghanistan is where they are; not much use for a heavy division there. The Russians learned that the hard way. Hopefully we do not have to learn it the hard way as well. So unless something changes we are not going anywhere.”

Axton and Simmons looked at each other and grinned. Axton snickered.  
“Well, Private Parker, you would be glad to know that your wisdom seems to be shared by division. They also stated that no deployment is expected for some time; but training will be accelerated. Which is good. This division needs some serious training before going anywhere.”

Finishing breakfast, they headed back to the office.

Axton had already gotten Liz an office; she would be supervising the other 89Bs under Axton. Right at this time the ordnance company only had one other officer, a LT Rogers. He was very busy working the ASP as they started to look at the ammo and thinking about what needed to be looked at. Once the QASAS got back, an increased inspection program would go into effect. Rogers would be in charge of moving the ammo to the inspection building and back. Simmons wanted the entire ordnance company to get as much practice moving ammo and handling it as possible.


	2. First big step down the road

Liz settled into work; she had been explicitly assigned to start drawing up plans to see how much transportation it would take to move a divisions worth of ammunition for an overseas deployment. Now much of the ammunition the division would use would come from elsewhere, but no Division commander wanted to depend on someone else for ammo when he got to the theatre; he wanted some with him. They would only be able to fly a small amount; the rest would have to go by ship. Ideally they wanted the ships to head out first; the troops and other equipment would arrive at a faster rate. Much of that would be flown. Simmons told Liz to get in touch with division G4 to see what space would be available to them during a division deployment.

The next few days went by quickly as things began to settle down; and people realized that the 3rd would not be going anywhere anytime soon. Simmons was able to push for and get an advanced training curriculum for the ordnance company. Both QASAS were back and they had agreed to start teaching ammunition surveillance; the inspection and classification of ammunition. Liz would make it a point to be there for all those sessions. She knew enough to know just how much she had to learn.

One month later and they were gathered that Sunday night to see the first units heading out to go to Afghanistan on TV. None of the 3rd was going as expected; but the training was being stepped up in all areas.

Simmons sat back and rubbed his neck; did not matter what he did the bottom line was he did not have enough people; and what he did have needed more training. The QASAS were helping, but there was just so much time that he could spare his people to learn from them. Division had told him that since the 3rd was not going anywhere for a while they would not get any more 89B’s for the time being. The new class at Benning would be double the normal size, but they would all be swallowed up by other units higher on the pecking order for deployment. Already the signs were there that Iraq might be next. But not for a while. Meantime only light units were going to Afghanistan. Right now he had all he could do to support the increased training tempo. He had a meeting scheduled with the Division G4, for all intents and purposes his boss. The ordnance company was usually considered a division asset and came under division control. There were plans to change the organization of the division to make up a sustainment brigade which would have all the support units under it. Simmons was not all that sure that would help much; just another layer of command.

Simmons was well aware that as a captain he was probably the most junior officer in the room. There were a major or two, but just about everyone else was a light colonel or higher. The Division commanding general and his deputy commander were in attendance. This was a meeting to see what units were in what shape for a possible deployment in the next 6 months to a year. G4 was just about to give the briefing for the division support units.

Colonel Hough, 3rd Infantry Division G4, stood at the projector.  
“In summation, our division support units are at a yellow level; 70% as regards manning; somewhat lower as regards training. This has been discussed before 9/11 and priority was given to other areas.” The commanding general shifted at that; he had been the one to give that order. Which was now coming to bite him on the ass. Bottom line was the division support was not ready for a deployment now; and might not be in 6 months.

“Transportation is in the best shape; it is fully green at 91%.” He then went from there to steadily decreasing numbers and readiness.

“Ordnance Company is red. It is at 50% manning; and even lower in training.”

At that the general decided enough was enough.  
“OK. Division support is lousy. That is the fact of the matter. It was allowed to get that way by myself and previous commanders and that was not smart and now it’s biting us in the ass. So I want a plan to bring them all to Green levels in 6 months. Combat units that are at 95% can be raided for personnel. If you need me to lean on TRADOC or someone else for more trained personnel I want specifics. Odds are that I will not get a lot of what I want so I want to go for what is important. I want a plan in one week. That is all.”

Sometime later all the Division support unit commanders were in the conference room at G4. Hough looked at his commanders.  
“In 3 days I want exactly what you need and how many. By grades and specs and MOS’s. Captain Simmons, will you remain behind?”

After they all left Hough looked at Simmons.   
“You were there. The General now knows how far the Ordnance Company is down the crapper. I take it you cannot get any more 89Bs from Benning?”

“No sir. I doubt the General will be able to pry any loose without FORSCOM having to do the heavy lifting.”

“I am not sure he can get much help there for the time being. So we are going to have to make do with what we got. Just how bad is your situation?”

“You know about the 89B’s so no point in talking about them. I am lucky in that Sergeant Axton is highly experienced; and I got a new 89B that showed up on the morning of 9/11 fresh from Benning and dived right in and did a fine job. But that is it. Now as regards handlers, I am at 75%. Not too bad. If I could get a couple more that would be great. Material wise we are good. What I do need are some drivers and supply specialists who can help with the paperwork and the TAMIS systems.”

Hough had been taking notes. “OK. So what exactly do you need to go green?”

“6 Drivers; 2 handlers; 4 supply techs; and a couple of officers smart enough to learn and get out of the way of the people that already know.”

“But that still leaves the 89B’s.”

“Yes sir but that is the way it is.”

“True. Without any more 89B’s can you really go green?”

Simmons took a deep breath and looked the Colonel in the eye.  
“NO. The only way would be if when we deploy we have a LAR or QASAS in direct support. Frankly we should have one no matter what but in our situation it would be a critical need.”

Hough slowly nodded. 

The Transportation Company commander was talking to his people at a hastily called meeting.  
“OK people this is from division. You know the situation with the support units; they want to beef them up. We are going to be getting some more people from Combat; qualified drivers of vehicles but with very little experience in what we do. In turn I have been told that since we are full up on supply techs that we are going to have to send some drivers and techs to the Ordnance Company.” The people looked at each other than at him.  
“Now I am going to be honest; the odds are that any transfers that are done will be permanent. So think about that. Anyone who wants to volunteer see your sergeants first. That is all.”

Isabelle, Tess and Maria huddled up at lunch time. Maria started off.  
“So what do you guys think? Want to join the bomb guys and be with Liz?”

Isabelle shrugged. “I am driving a truck no matter what. Maybe it’s not so good to be driving something that can blow up but not much change really. This company is ok but from what Liz has told us the Ordnance Company is pretty well led and would be more interesting.”

Tess nodded. “Paper work is paperwork and I do have experience at TAMIS.”

Maria smiled. “Well OK then let’s start it going. The Four Musketeers will be united once again!” 

Liz knocked on the door outside of Captain Simmons office.  
“You wanted to see me, Captain?”

“Come on in Liz and take a seat.”

Liz did so and waited.

“We are getting transfers in from Transportation. 4 drivers and 2 supply techs. Here are their names.” And he gave her a slip of paper. Liz read it and her eyes widened and a smile came to her face. Simmons chuckled.  
“Don’t ever play poker, Liz, you will get cleaned out.”

Liz blushed a little. “This is good news for me, Captain. And for the company. The two techs and one of the drivers I do know and they are good at what they do.”

Liz met the others for dinner that Friday night. Now two months post 9/11 and things had slowed down some though the increased training pace had been maintained. Either Liz or Sergeant Axton was on call on the weekends to handle any ammo situations that did not require a QASAS or EOD. They had traded off and this weekend Liz was free; the first one since she had gotten to Ft Stewart.

“So Chica what can we expect down there where things go boom?”

“Captain Simmons is a stand-up Guy and so is Sergeant Axton. Lt Rogers is OK; Isabelle will be the only one to have any time with him. He is quiet and somewhat rough and brusque but once you show you can do your job he will leave you alone. Sergeant Smith is the office guy; he is a wiz at TAMIS and he is chained to that machine pretty much 24/7. Maria, you and Tess will be helping him out. We got a serious backlog of paperwork that has to be filled and taken care of. And we will be updating the division deployment plans in three months. That will be a load. But outside of that it should be calm. Isabelle, you will be working hard for the first month or so; but after that it will slow down.”

The girls nodded. Maria as usual had to get sidetracked.  
“So any real gorgeous guys?”

They all laughed and Liz snorted. “Have not had the time to check really. But not really. I have been busy as all get out since Axton and I am the only really qualified 89Bs. The other three are space fillers. Captain Simmons specifically authorized me to sign 1348-1 issue documents despite me not being of sufficient rank. He got the Division G4 to sign off on it and even got the JAG to put in a legal opinion that since we do not have any more 89B’s then the situation is similar to combat.”

Tess looked shocked. “Wow. That is something else.”

The other two agreed. Liz shrugged. “Captain Simmons told me that he and the division G4 were doing it this way so that if someone made a stink, they could force those same someone’s to explain why we were refused any more 89Bs and were told to stop even asking. That would turn the blowtorch right up the ladder all the way to FORSCOM and above.”

Maria shook her head. “Why is it so hard to get any more, Liz?”

“I called up the instructor I knew at Ft Benning and talked to one of the QASAS here. They both told me the same thing. The Army has ignored ammunition for 20 years; they downgraded the importance of ammo specs to the point that PR personnel are considered more important. So no one ever wants to go into it. You do not get any gongs or any help in getting promotions if you are an 89B. And they still refuse to flat out assign people and tell them that they are going to be an 89B and to like it. Until they do this is what is going to happen.”

Isabelle snorted. “Until they go to war and it all hits the fan and they scream for more, that will not happen.”

“Yep.” 

That weekend all four went shopping in Savannah, and wandered around to see the sights. It was the most fun Liz had had in a very long time. The situation being what it was, Liz had not been able to get any leave over Christmas. So Nancy had come over to spend time with her. It was a good time. 

Gradually things got better in the Ordnance Company. They were brought up to strength, or close to it, in all areas except 89B. Over the next several months, the divisional support units crept closer and closer to green level. By the time the 6 month point had been reached, it was done. But it had been close.

Captain Simmons had just gotten back from a meeting at Division and had called ahead for all his senior people to be waiting in his office. Lt Rogers, Sergeants Axton and Smith, and Liz were wondering what was going on. Rogers, as usual, was pessimistic.

“Divisional Parade. They want lots of firecrackers.”

Simmons came in and told Liz to close the door. Then he sat at his desk.  
“The General has decided to run a sudden divisional exercise; to see what shape the division would be if we can a sudden notice to deploy the entire division. We will be loading trucks and moving supplies and everyone will draw all equipment. Which means divisional support carries the can. This is really designed to see what shape Divisional support is in since we are supposedly in the green now. The warning will hit at 0800 tomorrow morning. Get ready people, but DO not tell anyone outside this office.”

Liz stood outside for a bit; it was early March and just starting to warm up; luckily the weather looked good for the next several days. She had been over time coming up with plans if something like this happened; now she would see how good those plans were.

Liz had quietly told Isabelle that tomorrow would be busy; she got the message; she did the same with Maria and Tess. Not giving them any specifics that evening.

Liz forced herself to do regular work that next morning. Then the alarm went off like it had those months ago.

“People we have a divisional deployment order. Let’s get cracking.”

Over the next 12 hours there was bedlam. Liz and Sergeant Axton camped out at the ASP. By 1700 they had loaded over 100 trucks with close to 2000 tons of ammunition and so far nothing had been damaged and nothing had been dropped. The trucks were then moved to a holding area and secured for the night. The rest of the base once again looked like a kicked over beehive. At 2200 the General decided he had seen enough and called the exercise finished.

Liz sat down exhausted on a batch of empty pallets. They had brought out portable lights for the ASP. She looked at Sergeant Axton.  
“What do you think?”

He shrugged. “We did fine; exceeded requirements. How the rest of the division did, who knows.”

Sometime later Captain Simmons came by.  
“Lock up the mags. We are done. Be back by 0600 tomorrow morning; we have to put all that back in the bunkers.”

Liz rode with Axton back to the office, almost asleep. Isabelle stopped by and picked her, Maria and Tess up and they grabbed a quick bite to eat and then flopped into bed at their quarters. To Liz it seemed like she had barely hit the pillow when the alarm went off. Maria groaned and muttered something about killing that clock as she hid under her pillow. But they dragged themselves out and got to the office at 0600. Liz headed to the ASP and got to work. It was not until 1500 that they got the last of the trucks unloaded and the ammo into the magazines. Then it took another hour to finish everything else so that people could be done. The whole company gathered at the office.

Captain Simmons looked around. “The Ordnance Company passed with flying colors; we got it done ahead of time coming and going. No breakage or accidents or injuries. Head off people; you did well.”

By consensus they all trooped to the mess hall and ate then back to the rooms and crashed. They were all sound asleep by 1800.

The next day Liz was sitting in her office; she actually did not have much paperwork to do since she had taken it with her and did it in every free moment during the last two days. Sergeant Axton stuck his head in the door.  
“The Captain wants to see us.”

Liz noticed it was just the three of them in the office. Axton closed the door.  
“Liz, I want to say you did a real fine job. You hit this post running and have not slowed down. 6 months and you have exceeded all expectations. So I have put you in for promotion to E4. I do not think it will take any time at all.”

Liz smiled. “Thank you Captain.”

“You earned it. Now there might be some sniping from some others – ignore it. You have this promotion coming. The preliminary report from Division is that we just barely overall got it done; but it was close and some areas failed. Overall the General is not too mad; but he wants better. We did very well so we will probably get some recognition. That is how I plan to work your promotion.”

Liz was smiling at lunch that day. The others noticed it.  
“OK, Chica, spill. What has got you floating on air?”

“I am getting promoted again.”

The other three looked surprised but not shocked. Tess was first.  
“You earned it Liz. You are doing the job of about three people and you do it well.”

Isabelle was next. “Definitely. Actually six months is not that fast, really. Though of course you got that jump getting here.”

Maria grinned. “Going to be a lifer, Liz?”

Liz sat back with a pensive face. They all realized that she was actually thinking about it.  
“You know, I have not thought about it, but that is actually a possibility. But I have not even been in one year yet. This has been a real good posting for me; a great Sergeant and a good Captain. Good people mostly around me. You guys here. In 5 years I might be counting the days if I reupped and got a lousy assignment. So who knows? But I have to admit that something one year ago that I would not have considered for a moment actually seems like it might be possible.”

Liz had not been spending much; and frankly had not had the opportunity if she had wanted to. She was starting to accumulate some nice savings. She had been considering getting a small car to wander around in. She went out with the girls in Isabelle’s car so the need had not been there. But she had to consider the future. Living on post, with very few expenses, she had been able to save almost $1000 a month. She could buy a decent small car outright. At this rate in 4 years she would have enough to do an in state college 4 year program with help from the GI Bill. But she still did not have an idea what she wanted to do. Nothing seemed to jump out at her. The other girls had been looking at getting an apartment off post. Liz frankly did not feel the need. Maybe it was working so hard; maybe growing up in Worland had made her so self-sufficient that the idea of moving into town away from the base just did not seem necessary. 

Liz continued to think about this over the next few months. The Divisional Support companies got better and the general did not call for another exercise. But the situation with Iraq began to get more and more serious and the signs were there that it might be next. And this was a campaign where it was almost a given that the 3rd would be deployed. It was just a matter of how much of the division would go. As time went by it began to look like the whole division would be going.

By October, it was no surprise when the word quietly went down that they would be deployed starting in January. The division would go to Kuwait, then go into Iraq from there. Liz was glad she had put off getting a car. 

It was no secret but no one talked about it much. They just began to get ready. It was let out that the deployment would begin right after New Year’s. Liz then got leave approved to visit her mother. 

The day before Liz left to visit her mother, the 21st of December, she looked around her office. Captain Simmons had let her know that her promotion to E5 would come just before they began to deploy. Liz was not all that sure she wanted this latest one; she would be a sergeant, and really in the supervisory chain. Which meant more paperwork. They still had not gotten anymore 89B’s; but the company was otherwise at full strength. Sergeant Axton had told her with a smirk that they were promised two more at least by May. Of course by then they would be in Iraq almost certainly. Not likely they would actually get them where they needed them.

Nancy Parker looked across the kitchen table at her daughter. Elizabeth had grown in confidence and assurance; Liz had made sure that she kept up a strict workout regimen; she might be fitter than she had ever been before. Her baby was grown up now; even if she was only 19. Liz had told her they would be deploying to Kuwait in January; waiting to head into Iraq. Her baby was going to war. Nancy Parker had never been particularly religious; but now she was praying daily.

The Day before she left, December 27, 2002, Liz Parker walked outside of the little house in Worland, Wyoming. It was not too cold by Worland Standards; only 5 degrees. Above zero. Not a lot of wind. It was a bleak but beautiful land. Liz walked around a little; sniffed the cold air. Then went back into the house. 

The official order came down on 7 January, 2003. The entire division would deploy to Kuwait. They had already made the plans and gone over them several times. Time to put them into effect.

Within 2 weeks a lot of work had been done; the Ordnance Company had managed to squeeze a fair amount of ammo onto the planes carrying equipment and men. Liz had carefully gone over the regulations of military air in contingency operations; and had suggested to Captain Simmons that every vehicle going over have its combat load on board. He had taken that to G4, who told the general that would be one way to make sure the division had a fair amount of ammo of its own ready to go. The general had taken the ball and run with it to FORSCOM then CENTCOM. And they had agreed. The Air Force raised hell but was told to sit down and shut up. But that made the job of the ordnance company a lot tougher as they were tasked with making sure that every vehicle with ammo on board had all the necessary paperwork and the load was properly packaged when necessary and secure. Liz spent every day, virtually, at the Air Field checking vehicles and loads off of the master list that Maria and Tess had made up.

Liz had learned a lot about ammunition in the past year; she haunted the offices of the QASAS (one of whom would indeed as promised deploy with the division) trying to cram in as much as she could. Both QASAS had told her that if she wanted to get out, she would have no trouble being a QASAS. Liz had thought about that; it was a possibility.

By February 21, they were on their way to Iraq. Liz had quietly been able to avoid the Anthrax vaccines with a little help from the health clinic; she wanted no part of that mess. Captain Simmons and Sergeant Axton had agreed and had also managed to wiggle out of them. Same with Maria and Tess and Isabelle.

They had gotten together the day before Isabelle would be going; Maria and Tess would follow soon after; Liz last making sure that as much ammo as they could fit on board would be coming with them.

They had gone off post into Savannah to a nice restaurant Isabelle had found. It was a fairly quiet meal. All four of them were well aware that life was about to get a whole lot less safe. Finally Maria had offered a toast with the Champagne they had ordered.  
“To the Four Musketeers. When this is over, we will be back here drinking the same year of Champagne.” 

Kuwait was dusty but not too hot; and very dry. February 28, 2003 was normal for Kuwait. This was the 12 th Anniversary of the end of the first war with Iraq. Now they were going to finish the job. The camp that the third had set up was one huge community of tents. Liz looked around the command tent for the ordnance company.  
“The scary thing is guys, that this might be the most comfortable we will get for a long time to come.”

Maria threw a ball of paper at her.  
“Thank you, SERGEANT, for your work on uplifting the moral of your people.”

They steadily worked towards getting the units ready to go. There was not a lot of room for all the ammo that they had ready to go; they barely had the required distance to the camps from the temporary ASP that had been set up. It was tentatively thought that sometime after the 18th of March would be the go date. The Air Force would drop a lot before the ground pounders went in.   
Liz checked the paperwork one more time then looked up at the clock. It was midnight on the 19th of March. It would not be long. The 3rd was as ready as it could be. The ASP would remain in Kuwait until the 3rd was at least 50 miles into Iraq. Then they would move half way to the front. Then would wait until the 3rd got to Baghdad before moving again. The hope was they would only have to move the ASP twice, but Liz was skeptical. One thing about being deployed; in one respect things got simpler. The ordnance company only had to move the ASP and set it up and issue from it. While the war was going on they would not be receiving much back. And they would not be worrying about residue. They would not have to actually transport the ammunition to the front.

Then they heard the first bombs going off. All four of them left the tent; in the distance you could see the flashes and hear the thuds. After a while they went back inside and got back to work.

It took 10 days before the ASP moved. Just after the big sandstorm, the ASP moved into Iraq. It took 2 days almost around the clock to do it; they were completely exhausted by the time it was done. Liz and the others curled up in a tent and slept like logs for 12 hours. Liz found herself strangely calm about entering Iraq. They had a full company of Infantry plus a company of Abrams watching over them as they moved the whole ASP in one convoy of almost 100 vehicles. And a company of Apache’s overhead. It had been decided to keep at least 3 days full balls to the wall war unit of issue ammo with the ASP. Which was probably a lot more than they would need but it was a case of better too much than not enough. 

10 days later they moved again, nearer to Baghdad. It was decided that they would stay there for the time being. As it turned out they stayed for longer than that. It had always been decided that a clear area, near a major road but not in or near any village or town was the best place to be. And that is what they did. Milvans and Hescos were brought in and burms bulldozed to separate the various loads. The QASAS directed the operation; Liz taking lots of notes. In three days they had almost 4000 tons of ammunition there. For the next week they worked at getting everything going smoothly. The 3rd was driving on Baghdad, and it was thought that it would be about a week before the city would be taken; if there was no desperate house to house defense.

April 9 the 3rd was right at the city gates; Liz was listening to some reports coming in at the command tent. The feeling was that this would not last much longer. Then Captain Simmons came in.   
“Liz, they want a pile of ammunition moved to this point” showing her the map coordinates “they are going to be moving west with the 3rd brigade. They want a field ASP here.”   
Liz looked at the map then at him. “How much is a pile?”

“A full unit of issue for the brigade.”

Liz winced. That was a pile. The paperwork alone would be fun. But they had plans for field ASP’s; Liz had just hoped they would not be building any.

She tracked down the QASAS and he shook his head as well; but pulled out the plans and they looked at them. Sergeant Axton came by and told Liz that she would be the ASP rep there. He and the Captain had to stay with the main ASP. Liz nodded; a little nervous but she felt she was ready.

2 days later another massive convoy was going down the road; over 50 heavy trucks loaded with artillery and mortar ammunition; machine gun and rifle bullets; 40MM grenades for the machine guns and the M203’s; demolition equipment as well just in case they had to blow it all up and run. Once they got to the spot Liz decided to do it quick and dirty; they had brought a bulldozer with them and some engineers. Going right from the plan Liz had them throw up burms all around the field ASP then burms in the middle and to the sides. She checked the distances carefully to make sure they had the necessary distance so that if one pile went up they all would not go up. The guard force put up concertina all around and set up MGs and firing pits just in case. Liz had grabbed every available milvan and luckily had just enough; she would use them as bunkers. The QASAS came by and signed off on everything; suggesting that they cover the milvans in sand. That was done the next day. By Afternoon of that day Liz was issuing ammunition.

Running a Field ASP singlehanded, just about, Liz found herself busier than a dog with three cats to chase. She slept in the command tent, curled up on a scrounged air mattress; she did not need much in the way of blankets as the area was getting warm even in the night. MRE’s were getting old but there was nothing else.

It took the third brigade about a week to finish things off; by that time Baghdad had fallen and things were starting to quiet down. One thing Liz was grateful for was that there were no civilians around. They had fled the area. With the end of major combat operations, Liz found the pressure easing. That was when they started to take sniper fire. So much for things quieting down. 

It was more annoying than a threat; the snipers were really lousy shots. They had to fire at such a distance that they barely came close to anyone. Liz just hoped they did not get their hands on any mortars and figure out how to use them. For herself, since the command tent was right in the middle of the field ASP and surrounded by burms, she was not threatened at all. Now if they started to drop mortar rounds in that would be different. She got the engineers to bring in a few steel culverts and had them placed next to the central burms; and then cover the center part with sand. If they had enough warning, they could shimmy into those culverts and be reasonably safe.

Even though she was lonely for her friends, Liz was glad they were safe at the main ASP. She saw Isabelle every other day or so when they brought in more ammo for the Field ASP; but once operations stopped there were no more runs.

Finally on the 28th of April, she was told to prepare to pull back to the main ASP. Glad to hear of it, she got cracking. They found 40 trucks which was enough to take most of it. But that left about 5 trucks worth. So one convoy went off while Liz and a few others waited for them to come back. Looking around, it was decided to not destroy the place; they might need it later. That evening she got word that a transportation company from the 4th ID would finish it off since their own company was busy. Something about that bothered Liz but she did not know what it was. She found out the next day.

Lt Knox was an arrogant idiot. He started telling the troops just to toss the ammo on the truck and Liz faced him down.

“Sergeant I am giving you an order.”

“Lt, do you want to be court-martialed? Because if you do just keep it up. This ammo will be properly secured.”

Knox made noise but backed down. Liz noticed several members of the company given her the high sign for a job well done. Liz was even more worried now. Finally at 1800 they were ready and headed out. Riding in the lead Truck, Liz looked around.  
“Where is the escort?”

The Driver looked at her. “He sent them ahead.”

Liz got a bad feeling.

Just 10 miles down the road the lead vehicle with the Lt in it blew up. Liz did not know it but this would later be thought to be the first IED.

Liz got out of the truck, keeping her M4 close at hand; she had made sure she got one with the 40MM M203 and kept plenty of ammo and grenades nearby. The driver was right next to her. Liz grabbed her radio and called back to the rear truck.  
“Jose, what is the situation back there?”

“Sarge, we are taking fire.”

Liz shook her head. Ambush. The Iraqi’s had seen no escort and had moved in. Shame the LT was already dead or Liz would have shot him herself. There was a Hummer with a 40MM MG in it halfway back. It was the most powerful vehicle left. Pulling the driver with her and the others as she crouched and crab walked down the convoy, she got them all to the Hummer. She took a quick look around the flat terrain then up to the Hummer.  
“Pull out and head over to that section over there. Spread the fire around. We will gather there once you make sure it was clear.” The little hill was about 200 yds away from the road. The hummer moved at about 10MPH, spraying 40MM HE all around the area. Liz sat and thought for a minute. Then grabbing two of the drivers she went to the second to last truck.   
“Use your knives and cut the straps. Those rear boxes are claymores. We might need them. Those boxes over there are 40MM for the MG. Grab them as well.”

They dashed over to where the hummer was. The guys carrying the boxes made good time. She had them start to unpack. She told the gunner and driver to get out of the Hummer; it was not armored so they were sitting targets. She was glad to see two other M4’s with 203’s. The other drivers had also grabbed two boxes of 5.56 and two boxes of 40MM for the 203’s. The hill was perfect for defense; it was actually the remains of an old stone house of some kind. The center was depressed which allowed them to gather inside.

Liz tried the radio to get the ASP but got nothing; it was out of range. Good thing the weather was clear and there was a full moon. She had a hunch they would be there for a while. 

They had not heard anything for a while when there was a woosh and the rear truck gushed flame. Liz shook her head. RPG. In the next 20 minutes all the trucks went up. In the gathering dusk that was not so bad since there was plenty of light. Right after the last truck was hit the ammunition in the first truck hit began to explode; and they heard some screams. Too bad guys. Liz decided to act. She directed several of the drivers to creep out and set up the claymores as she showed them how to do it. They had 24; she set them up so that she had two rings around their position. That took a while; and it was dark except for the burning trucks. Explosions kept coming now and then; she had a hunch until that stopped the Iraqi’s would not move in. She was glad she had remembered to tell the last driver to grab all the water he could. They would need it.

Back at the ASP Captain Simmons was on the radio to Brigade; they had a convoy of trucks overdue. He looked out as it got darker then looked at Sergeant Axton.  
“This is bad.”

It was almost 2000; Liz wondered how long it would be before someone came to look for them. They were about 20 miles from the ASP down a fairly wide road. If they had serious combat power they could just come straight. She kept talking quietly to the other drivers. As it turned out the only other Sergeant had been with the Lt. She was in full command of herself and 12 soldiers.

Brigade was waking up; no one here wanted another Jessica Lynch situation. The Brigade commander contacted the only unit available; a company of Abrams that was normally the main heavy backup for the ASP.  
“Captain, I have called in a Spectre to look around; but head down that road ASAP. It will call you as soon as it is on scene.”

“Understood Colonel.”

Maria, Isabelle and Tess stared at the Abrams heading down the road. Maria said what they all felt.  
“God please let them get to Liz in time.”

The trucks had burned down and the explosions had stopped. Liz had carefully checked the 40MM that she had for the M203’s and was glad that they were all HE. She intended to use them up fast if the Iraqi’s rushed them. Then they started to take fire. She designated 6 men in pairs to watch the perimeter on three sides; she and the other 8 watched towards the front and the burned out convoy. The ground was so open and the moon was full; it would be very hard for them to creep up on them. The best way was for them to rush from the cover the burned out trucks gave them. She had a plan for that. She knew they would be watching for someone to use the 40MM on the Hummer. It was exposed and any gunner would not last long.

After about 20 minutes the fire got heavier. She then sighted using M203 and motioned for the other 2 to do the same. They each fired a HE right into the base of the trucks. They all hit where they were supposed to and screams came through the night as the shrapnel bit into the Iraqi’s. The fire stopped. The screams slowly became moans, then became silent.

The Company commander of the Abrams wanted to go full bore but he had to take it slow; about 10-15 MPH, using their infrared night sights. He hoped the Spectre contacted him soon.

One of the men behind her called softly.  
“Sarge, I can see a few trying to come at us from behind.”

Liz crawled back to the rear. It took a minute but she spotted them. She looked around but could not see any others. They were not quite together. She pulled the other M203 launchers beside her and she pointed them out. Then to the others she said.

“Get ready. We are going to hit them with HE and then you unload on them. I not only want to kill them; I want them to get squashed. That should buy us some more time.”

Liz took her time aiming. Then she fired, remembering to close her eyes after she pulled the trigger. Two of the four were hit by the HE; they stood up screaming. The other two tried to run but were cut down. The two wounded were rolling on the ground, screaming. One of her men started to raise his weapon but Liz stopped him.  
“Them screaming will have an effect on the others.”

The Spectre had finally found the Convoy; it was still smoldering; but the infrared showed a group nearby. Then it saw the HE rounds.  
“Spectre to Advance; the convoy has burned but we have survivors to the west about 200 yards. They just toasted a few.”

“Advance to Spectre; how far from us?”

“About 10 miles. I see nothing on the road between you and them.”

“Roger, Spectre, we will expedite.”

Liz knew they were about to try something again. She was detecting signs all around. They were going to rush. Well she had the claymores; they were wired so that each side could be fired twice. She pulled everyone into the middle.  
“OK people they will try a rush. I will use the claymores. Jones you take this side; Russell this side; Adams that side. I will take this side. Wait until they get close and fire once.”

She had the 203’s one to each side. They would fire HE that would give them some cover.

15 minutes later they came from all sides. Almost simultaneously there were blasts on all four sides and more Iraqi’s screamed. Then Liz ordered HE. A couple more were killed. Then it got quiet as the last groans were silenced as Liz ordered all the bodies shot again.

The Spectre commander wandered what they were using down there besides the grenades. Whatever they had was working. They had counted over 40 bodies around the position. He had almost opened fire when they detected the infiltration; but whoever was in command down there knew what they were doing. 

Liz wondered what was next. It was almost 2200; where was the relief? 

“Spectre, this is advance. We are about 2 miles from your position on the map. Confirm.”

“Advance, we see you. We will drop flares in 5 minutes.

Liz looked around – she thought she heard something. Then she looked up; she could just barely see something – it looked like a large airplane.

Suddenly the night was gone; several flares were falling; it was almost as bright as mid-day. Blinking, Liz looked around. Then she knew what had happened. A Spectre had dropped flares. She sat back.  
“People Stay down. Don’t get yourselves shot now.”

Then for the first time in hours the radio squawked.

“Convoy, this is Company A of the 1st Armor brigade. We are coming up to you – we are about one mile away and closing. Spectre will continue to drop flares.”

Liz closed her eyes for a minute. Then keyed the mike.  
“Company A, glad to see you. Come on ahead. Has Spectre given you our position?”

“Roger, Convoy. We know where you are. Just sit right there and we will pick you up.”

“Roger Company A.”

There were prayers and several of them were unashamedly weeping; as was Liz.  
“Guys when the tankers get close let’s fire off the last of the claymores. Throw everything in the hummer and we will either take it with us or blow it up.” 

The tankers came up and several of them flanked Liz’s position just in case.

“Company A, we have some claymores that we will fire to prevent capture. We also have an operational hummer. DO we bring it or blow it?”

“Convoy, Blow it. We will partial you guys out one to a tank and make a speed run back.”

“Sounds good, Company A. Blowing claymores now.” 

They blew the claymores and then waited until the tanks got close. The guys ran, one to a tank. Liz waited until they were all safe then fired her M203 into the Hummer; it started to burn as she dashed to the lead tank. She leapt up onto the turret and the figure there pointed down the hatch. Liz had never been in an Abrams before; it was kind of cramped once the captain had closed the hatch.

“Captain James. How many did you lose?”

“Sergeant Parker. Just the stupid LT that caused all of this and his sergeant in the lead truck. Not sure if it was a mine or an RPG. No one else was even wounded.”

“Well that is a whole lot better than we could have hoped. Looks like you racked up a pretty good body count from what the Spectre said.”

Liz grimaced. “Yeah I guess. All I cared about was getting everyone back safe.”

The captain thought he had rarely seen a cuter sergeant. He contacted the ASP to let them know the good news.

Captain Simmons grabbed for the mike. “This is ASP, come in Company A.”

“This is company A. We have them all. Sergeant Parker reports two KIA; the LT and his sergeant. No other wounds. ETA about 30 minutes.”

Captain Simmons sat down hard. “We owe you Company A.”

“Glad to be of assistance.”

Maria and the others were all crying. They had feared the worst. 

Riding in an Abrams was an experience; all that metal moving at a speed that Liz bet was near 50MPH. Kind of bumpy to say the least. She just held on.

The Brigade commander sat down and took a deep breath. That had been close. Whoever was in command there had done real well. He looked at his XO.  
“Division is going to want to know what happened. Why the hell that convoy had no escort. I want you down there in the morning asking questions. And I want answers.”

Division indeed wanted answers. Word about the convoy had gotten out to the reporters; normally they did not have much to do with the support companies so not many hung around there. What had happened with the Jessica Lynch convoy was still reverberating around the commands. No Convoy went any distance without serious escort. This one had violated that rule large. Division wanted scalps.

Liz started to hop off the tank then hesitated, turned to the tank Commander and laid a big one on him, to the cheers of the gathered crowd. She hopped down and was engulfed by Maria, Tess and Isabelle. Liz felt as good at that moment as she had ever had in her entire life. After they let her go she walked up to Captain Simmons and saluted.   
“Sir, regret to inform you that all the ammunition in that convoy was lost. But I do have the paperwork so we can account for all of it. None of our vehicles were in the convoy. I was the only person from our company there. The only losses were the Lt of the transportation company and his sergeant.”

Simmons returned her salute. “Good Job Parker. Now I want you to get in the command tent and write up your report while it’s still fresh. Do not leave out any detail no matter what.”


	3. Another step down the Yellow Brick Road

Drinking a cold coke and knawing on an MRE cookie, Liz went over everything that happened from the time the first convoy left until she hopped into the tank. She decided to tone down the conflict with the Lt as regards strapping down the ammunition. But left nothing else out. That took about an hour. Maria and the others were right with her. As soon as she was done she gave the report to the Captain and they all puppy piled in one of the tents and were asleep in minutes.

Captain Simmons and Sergeant Axton went over the report. After they had both read it Captain Simmons sat back.  
“Well it’s a good thing that Lt is dead or he would be fried anyway.”

Axton nodded. “Moron. Broke every rule in the book and no common sense as well.” The two men then sacked out for the rest of the night.

Liz groaned as she slowly woke up. She could tell it was daylight; she was alone in the tent. The others had been careful not to wake her; but Liz figured it would have taken the crack of doom to have broken into her sleep that night. Feeling seriously grungy she wobbled out of the tent and visited the nearest portapotty.

Lt Colonel Barrett, Brigade XO, had arrived at the ASP at 0800. Captain Simmons gave him the report Liz had written. He read it and shook his head. Then he made it a point to talk to the Company A commander. He had been given a copy of the report filed by the Spectre commander. Then he talked to Simmons.  
“Well it seems straightforward. That Lt is better off dead then what he would be going through now. Though I am willing to bet there would have been no survivors if he had not been killed right off the bat. I want to talk to Sergeant Parker.”

“We let her sleep in this morning sir.”

“Well she earned it. Have the other survivors given their statements?”

“They are doing that right now Sir.” 

Liz stopped by the mess tent and got something to eat; the heated MRE’s were better but not that much. She really wanted a shower but knew she should check in at the command tent. The arrival of a portable shower just 10 days ago had been a huge morale booster for the ASP. 

The Colonel and the Captain were quietly talking when Liz walked into the tent.

Colonel James took a good look at Sergeant Parker. Tiny thing, cute as a button, dirty as all get out. There was fire in her eyes, though. She came to attention and saluted.

“At east, Sergeant. This should only take a few minutes, then you can catch a shower and a change of uniform. I have read your report. I have just one question: did the Lt give any reason why he had released the escort?”

“None sir. Actually, I did not notice until we were moving.”

“I have talked to the escort commander and chewed him a new one. He should NOT have left even if the vehicles were not leaving. There was not enough security there.”

Liz bit her lip but stayed quiet.

“Well Sergeant I can definitely say this. You conducted yourself professionally and well. You took charge of a cluster not of your own making and got everyone left out in one piece. Now go on and get cleaned up.”

Liz saluted and got out of there. She hit the portable shower in 15 minutes and stayed there as long as she could stand it. Then got on clean underwear and a fairly clean uniform. Then headed back to the tent where Maria and Tess were working on the never ending paper work.

After Liz left the Colonel shook his head.  
“Tiny thing. But a real soldier. You say she has been pretty much overachieving since she got to Stewart?”

“Yes sir. She got in on 9/11 and was helping out at the ASP even before in processing. She had been a Section leader at Basic; and top student in her 89B class. She certainly has excelled here as well.”

“That is an understatement. Well, Division will want this report ASAP. The Newsies have heard about it; I am surprised none have shown up here. All I need to do is collect the statements of the other survivors.”

Sergeant Axton came into the tent with some papers. “Here are the other statements, Colonel.”

“Thank you, sergeant. Did they have anything to say off the record?”

“No sir. Every single one of them believes they are alive only because Sergeant Parker was there. And none of them had any respect at all for the LT.”

Colonel James sighed. “Well the good thing is that he was to blame; no court martial or anything else. Now the commander of that escort company is going to get a reprimand for leaving. But that is minor. He was ordered to go by the LT who was senior. So this report should be relatively straightforward.” 

Liz was in the office tent working on paperwork when Sergeant Axton poked his head in.  
“Liz, the other survivors are leaving to go back to their FOB. They want to say goodbye.”

Liz walked out to face the 12 soldiers she had led.  
“Guys, cannot say it was a great time. But we are all here and in one piece. Keep your heads down and good luck.”

All 12 stood at attention and saluted her which she returned. Then Jose piped up.  
“Sarge, any time you need a favor and we are around, give us a call.”

Liz grinned at them. “Thanks, guys.” 

A man in BDU’s but no insignia was quietly watching this. Sergeant Axton spotted him and went over. He right away realized he was a reporter. 

“And who might you be?”

“Carl Longon. Atlanta Journal-Constitution. I am embedded with the 3rd ID. Sergeant, you do realize this is going to be a big story?”

Sergeant Axton sighed and took the reporter in to see the Captain.

Longon could smell a big story; this could be huge. As more facts got out about the Jessica Lynch story, it had gotten fuzzy and not so great. But this one looked straight as an arrow.

Captain Simmons managed to not say much to the reporter. He told the reporter that he could not talk to Sergeant Parker until after the investigation concluded. 

Division had just gotten Colonel James report. The Division PR officer looked it over. He looked at his XO.  
“This is going to blow the Jessica Lynch story right out of the water. No need to embellish it. No false heroics.”

The Division commander finished reading the report and looked at his XO.  
“We have to handle this carefully. That stupid LT screwed the pooch and got himself and his sergeant killed. We should not try and cover that up. But at the same time Sergeant Parker really stood tall. Which is kind of funny since I hear she is a tiny thing.”

His XO nodded. “We are getting enquiries from all sorts of media. CENTCOM will want this report ASAP.”

“I think an award for Heroism under combat is due Sergeant Parker. Check the requirements and see what is warranted. Let’s not get too crazy. Make sure no one is talking the Congressional.”

“Yes sir.” 

Oblivious to all of this Liz worked away at the never ending paperwork and went through the milvans and storage pads to make sure things were straight. The QASAS stopped by to congratulate her on making it back in one piece. He was the first to mention to her that the whole escapade was starting to get widely known.

Captain Simmons hoped that Division would keep the press of their necks; they really did not need the hassle. Units were starting to turn in their excess ammunition as regards mortar and artillery ammunition. Everyone was keeping their light stuff, though.

That evening Liz was able to get out an email on the company net; it was tricky but possible. She wanted her mother to know that she was fine; things had gotten a little nasty for a while but she was ok.

Nancy Parker had been hanging onto the news every day; the fall of Baghdad and the general lowering of combat was a relief. But she still worried. Then Liz got an email to her and she was relaxed for a while.

Carl Longon was frustrated; he had been stonewalled so far due to the so-called investigation. But he had been able to hear enough to be sure of what happened. He decided to get it out and filled his story with the Division PR office. He was not going to try and sneak it out. He was just glad none of the networks had picked up on it yet. He would have been much less happy to hear that was not true.

The Fox news network News Director was discussing what he had just been told by the Fox reporter with the 3rd ID.  
“We do not want this to be like the Jessica Lynch mess. Is this fully confirmed?”

“Not officially on record. But I have talked to the PR officer who read the official report. And I have not heard anything that contradicts it. It’s actually pretty straightforward. They had a field ASP that they were closing down that had been supporting one of the Brigades. Most of the ammunition and personnel were pulled out; then the trucks were delayed as regards unloading so a transportation company from the 4th ID was called in to finish the job. Everything I have heard says the LT was an idiot and an asshole. He sent the escort off more than an hour ahead of the convoy. Huge mistake. If he had not been killed he would almost certainly be facing a court-martial. He and his sergeant were in the lead vehicle and got killed by what they think was an RPG. Sergeant Parker was senior NCO left. She quickly took command and got the drivers away from the convoy and found a defensible position nearby. She had the drivers pull out some claymore mines and other ammunition. They had a hummer with a 40MM grenade MG. But that was not used much; they are not armored and in a situation like that the gunner would have been meat on the table for any halfway good shot on the other side. To make a long story short, she held the position, the Spectre gunship that came to help out reported that they think there were are least 40 bodies of insurgents around the convoy. A company of Abrams came in and got them out about 5 hours after they had been hit.”

“OK. This is big. We will go with it for the Morning news tomorrow.”

Captain Simmons was talking to the commander of the company that had gone back down the road to look over the remains of the convoy and hopefully retrieve the bodies of the LT and Sergeant. They had been successful.

“Well Captain, we found exactly 61 bodies around that convoy.”

Captain Simmons shook his head. Remarkable.

That reaction was pretty much the same all the way past Brigade to Division to CENTCOM.

The Division PR officer talked to the Division Commander.  
“Had to let that report go through, sir. No reason to delay it. And the networks will be on it by tomorrow at the latest.”

Meanwhile at the main office of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution the editor was going over Longon’s story. He looked at the News chief.  
“Can we find a way to contact Parkers parents?” 

“We are working on that now, boss.”

Nancy Parker had just gotten home when the phone range.  
“Yes?”

“Is this the Parker residence?”

“Yes it is?”

“Would I be talking to the mother of Sergeant Elizabeth Parker of the 3rd Infantry division?”

Nancy was worried- very worried.  
“Who is this?”

“This is the news editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. We have a story out of Iraq concerning your daughter. She is fine. But it appears she is a hero as well.”

Nancy sat down slowly. “Liz sent me an email yesterday that she was fine and that something had happened but she did not give any details.”

“Well, Mrs. Parker let me read you the story just sent in by our reporter embedded with the 3rd ID.”

Nancy sat for a long minute after he had finished. “Liz originally wanted to go into the military for the benefits and because she was not sure what she wanted to do. She got to Ft Stewart on the morning of 9/11. I am not sure but she seems quite happy in the Army.” 

“Thank you Mrs. Parker and you should be very proud of your daughter.”

The editor looked over at the transcript and told the news director to make sure it was on Page 1. Longon had been able to find out that there were the bodies of 61 insurgents found around the convoy. That was added to the story.

The paper hit the streets at 5 AM that next morning. FOX News led off with the story at 9AM eastern.   
“This just in from Iraq. A supply convoy was attacked; this was very much like the Jessica Lynch situation but with a major difference. Mainly due to the actions of 19 year old Sergeant Elizabeth Parker of the Ordnance Company of the 3rd ID. When the lead vehicle was blown up, killing the officer in charge, Sergeant Parker took command and led a successful defense that led to all the other personnel in the convoy getting back alive and unhurt; and killing over 60 enemy soldiers. Details to follow.”

The division commander looked at the report his XO had given him.  
“Now are you sure this is warranted.”

“A supply sergeant. Not in the ground combat chain or trained for it. Sudden and unexpected combat situation. Took command and not only preserved her command but inflicted severe casualties on the enemy. Made sure that nothing was captured that could be used. Even came back with the paperwork identifying everything that had been lost. Her actions were inspired and innovative. Frankly for someone with no combat training or experience, remarkable. Sir I agree that this Award is high; but it is warranted. A Silver Star is not quite worthy of this action. It lasted for hours – not minutes.”

“Very well. I will sign off on this and send it up to CENTCOM.”

2 hours later CENTCOM’s commander was looking at that report. He looked at his XO. “Check this out line by line. I agree with it but try and pick it apart. After the Jessica Lynch mess we have to be careful. I am sending this up to the Chairman and the Secretary of Defense.”

Maria was gasping. “No way!”

Isabelle nodded. “When I was at the FOB they were talking about it. The Atlanta newspaper broke it then FOX News put it all over the world. Liz is a genuine Hero!”

Captain Simmons got off the radio. He looked at Sergeant Axton.  
“It’s true. It is the lead story on FOX. The good thing is that outside of the embedded reporters, no one else will be allowed to come down and bother us.”

Jose and several other drivers were talking to their embedded reporter for the 4th ID. He had been able to track them down and get to them before their commander knew about it.

Jose was blunt. “Sergeant Parker saved our butts. That dumbshit Lt would have gotten us all killed.”

The others all agreed. The reporter scribbled down his notes.

He had been working with the FOX reporters and gave them what he had. His own story was filled and on its way up the chain.

“This is Fox news with the latest from Iraq. The story of Sergeant Elizabeth Parker grows more interesting. We have been able to uncover word that the Lt who was in command of the transportation unit and the convoy, had deliberately sent off the Escort so that convoy was all but unprotected. He had also tried to force Sergeant Parker, an 89B specialist which means she is trained in ammunition supply and movement, to just allow the vehicles to go without securing the ammunition and explosives. A major violation of Army regulations. She stood her ground and forced him to back off. Which for the tiny Sergeant speaks volumes. We have been able to talk to some of the other drivers who maintained that the LT was incompetent; and they have flatly stated that he would have gotten all of them killed if he had remained in command after the convoy was attacked. Speculation is growing that Sergeant Parker will be the first woman decorated for Valor in Combat. It’s only a question of what it will be. Early speculation has it as a Silver Star; though some think that is inadequate. We will stay on this story.”

The Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff looked at the report. SECDEF looked at the General.  
“What do you think?”

“I agree sir. The recommendation for that award and the Combat Action Badge is warranted by her actions. She from all accounts never lost her head; was thinking right along; took much of the action personally; and was extremely successful in not only preserving her command, but inflicting significant casualties on the enemy. And her last act before leaving was destroying the remaining serviceable ammunition and equipment so as to not let the enemy benefit. If this was Sergeant Robert Parker I would feel the same way. When you add to the fact her young age, no combat training or experience, it is remarkable. All together it is valid, sir.”

“I agree and will so recommend to the President.”

Liz was beginning to get the feeling that something was going on. She was getting way too many strange looks.

The rest of the company had made it a point to not tell Liz what was going on, two days after the rescue of the convoy. And she was too busy with the day to day details to notice anything else.

Nancy Parker had spoken on the phone to several news organizations. She had decided that enough was enough. She was very proud of her daughter, but this was getting ridiculous. Even at work they were asking her about it.

The President looked at the SECDEF. “Considering what has happened with the Jessica Lynch situation, have we confirmed all of this. Nothing bad is going to be found out?”

“Mr. President, I am confident that nothing bad will be found out about Sergeant Parker. You want to talk about someone else with as clean a record and reputation; you will have to look long and hard. The bad part of the story is the LT who fortunately got himself killed. He screwed up badly; if he had survived he would have certainly been court-martialed.”

“Very well then. This is approved.”

“This is Fox News. Pentagon sources have confirmed that Sergeant Elizabeth Parker will be awarded a medal for her heroic action in saving the lives of the drivers of the convoy that was attacked on 28 April. Sources were not certain of which award it will be. Speculation has it that the Silver Star was mentioned, but that some felt that it was not sufficient. It is possible that the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest award for valor in combat that the United States has, will be the one. This would make Sergeant Parker the first woman not a nurse or member of the medical corps to be awarded a medal for valor in combat.”

Liz had had enough. She finally pinned down Maria.  
“OK, what is going on? People have been giving me lots of strange looks the last day or so.” 

Maria giggled. “Liz, sometimes you are so oblivious. You are a hero. Fox News and the other networks, and some newspapers got the details and have been shooting them all over the place. You are almost certainly going to get a medal.”

Liz sat there with her mouth open and unable to comprehend the situation.  
“A medal?” she finally squeaked.

The Division commander looked at the message. He looked at the XO. “Well, now how is this going to be done?”

“As high profile as this is, I am betting that General Franks will do the honors. Actually, if they could get away with it, I am sure the SECDEF would do it. Probably the president would want to. But it has to be done here and soon.”

Captain Simmons came back from a meeting with Division and called Sergeant Axton aside. Walking towards the ASP so as to be alone, he told the Sergeant.  
“Liz is going to be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, and the Combat Action Badge.”

Axton softly whistled. “Wow. Not that I think it’s not warranted. But that is a pretty high award for a single action. Though it was an action that was over five hours long. I guess that is what probably clinched it. Liz did not make one single mistake; every decision she made was dead on. When are they going to do this?”

“Division is pretty sure that Franks will want to make the award. Better see to it that Liz has a real clean uniform handy. They will probably do it at Division. I would guess in the next week or so. Things are pretty quiet.”

The division commander was talking to CENTCOM.  
“Yes sir. 10th of May. That is kind of fast sir. Yes sir. Our PR people will be waiting. Good day, sir.”

He looked at his XO. “They are doing this fast. Franks will be here on the 10th to talk to the 4th ID commander and myself. The SECDEF has informed him that the President has approved the award to Sergeant Parker. So she will get that gong and the Combat Action Badge on the 10th. Better make sure that she has a real clean uniform. No Class A’s; regular BDU. Let her captain know of the date and place.”

Captain Simmons called Liz to the command tent. Liz was still a little surprised but the shock was wearing off.  
“Well, Liz, I am sure by now that someone has spilled the beans.”

“I pinned Maria to the wall and she told me. Surprised that I would get a medal. Non-combat unit and a woman.”

“Well brace yourself. You are being awarded the Combat Action Badge, as all the survivors will be. That is a badge for non-infantrymen who have been in combat directly with the enemy. Then on May 10, at 3rd ID forward HQ, you will be awarded by General Tommy Franks, CENTCOM commander, the Distinguished Service Cross.”

Liz stood there. And stood there. With her mouth open. Captain Simmons could do nothing else but laugh.

Liz got scared. “Oh. My. God.”

It was still 3 days till the 10th and Liz was desperately trying not to think about it all. The Captain had made some calls and they had found a new uniform for her that was small enough so that it did not look bad. But otherwise she was a wreck despite the best efforts of her friends to help out.

Meanwhile back in the US:

Nancy Parker put the phone down and sat, staring at the wall in her office. Liz was going to be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Only the Congressional Medal of Honor was higher. Unbelievable. The letter from Liz had gotten to her only that afternoon. The Post Man had made it a point to hand deliver it to her rather then put it in her mailbox. He told her that he had served in Desert Storm; and that she should be very proud of her daughter. Nancy had read and re read the letter; and then the phone call from the army letting her know about the medal. 

Diane and Phillip Evans read the letter from Isabelle. Phillip looked at her.  
“Liz must be quite a young woman.”

Ed and Theresa Harding read the letter from Tess. They shook their heads.

Amy Deluca was talking to her friend at work.  
“Maria is over there right in the middle of that mess. I hope to God she does not get into something like her friend did.” 

Meanwhile outside of this rather large circumstance, things were fairly quiet at the ASP. Very little action was happening; so no one was getting much new ammunition. The Captain had been reading about reports that bases and camps were starting to take some fire; small arms mostly. He talked it over with Axton and Liz; they agreed they needed to figure out a way to protect the personnel at the ASP if there were rocket or mortar attacks. Liz suggested doing what she had done at the Field ASP and they agreed. Some 20 foot long metal culverts were located; they were brought into the ASP and scattered around and covered with several feet of sand. If something happened they could crawl in either end and be pretty well protected.

Maria and the others had had a talk with Captain Simmons: Liz needed her friends with her when she was faced with the circus the award ceremony would certainly become. He agreed.

Liz carefully checked her appearance; Division HQ certainly had a better situation then they did. Even if they were in tents as well. Looking in the mirror she made sure everything was correct. Taking a deep breath, she walked out to where her friends were waiting. They made it clear they would be sticking close to her and she was very grateful.

Liz stood at attention. Then when called she marched up to the General and saluted. He returned the Salute and then placed the Medal around her neck and shook her hand. “Congratulations, Sergeant. This was well deserved.”

Her knees almost shaking, Liz managed “Thank you sir.” She then Saluted and moved back to the formation.

“On April 28, 2003, a convoy carrying ammunition for the 3rd ID was attacked in Anbar Province. The lead vehicle was destroyed, killing the convoy commander and his sergeant. Sergeant Elizabeth Parker was the senior NCO. As an 89B, Ammunition Specialist, Sergeant Parker was neither trained nor experienced in combat. There were no combat soldiers present, only the vehicle drivers. Despite this she took command and by her efforts, personally and by orders and example, they were able to hold the position despite severe attacks and though greatly outnumbered her command was able to inflict heavy casualties on the enemy through a period exceeding 5 hours, mostly at night. No soldier in her command was wounded or injured. She also ensured that no ammunition or equipment was lost to the enemy by personally destroying the last as she left the position. Sergeant Elizabeth Parker has upheld the proud tradition of the US Army and is hereby awarded, by the President of the United States, on behalf of a grateful nation, the Distinguished Service Cross.”

Then came a blitz of picture taking; the flashes almost blinded her. The formation was dismissed and the MPs made sure that the reporters could not get to her. She quickly marched out of the facility and was grabbed by her friends. Captain Simmons then told them to vamoose and they did. They escaped to the mess hall and got something to eat. All the while Liz slowly fingered her medal. She had been awarded the Combat Action Badge by the Division CO earlier in the day. That had been low key in the Division command tent. Liz could not really believe this had happened. IT was like she was a spectator seeing it happen to someone else.

Nancy Parker sat in her small living room watching the event on TV. Liz looked so small; and she would have bet very scared. Nancy sighed as it was over. No telling how long Liz would be over there. But they said that the major combat operations were over. She just hoped that was true.

Liz was very lucky that the reporters were not allowed to bother her. She was content to stay holed up at the ASP doing her job. Captain Simmons quietly told her that she was going to end up as one of the poster children of this war. She would be well known for a long time. She had written a letter to her mom just before finding out what medal she was going to get; she had not given a lot of detail. She wrote a second one after the ceremony.

Isabelle, Maria and Tess were also celebrating getting promoted to E4, as Specialists, unlike Liz who had been a corporal; they were happy to have the extra money without having to be in the command line. One major topic of discussion was how long they would be in Iraq. They knew they were due for a year here; and that was probably going to be the least. But they were hopeful, here in Mid-May of 2003.

The months began to slowly go by; the ASP was maintained in its present position; but the facilities were upgraded as contractors were hired to make things better for the soldiers. Liz was very happy to see better quarters and above all a mess hall; they finally started getting real food in August. They got semi-permanent tents, some with air conditioning. That made sleeping in the hot summers possible. Till then quite often they would trade out sacking in the one tent that had air conditioning, where the computers and communications gear was kept.

One bad thing was the increasing violence as disaffected Iraqi’s and foreign combatants began to make trouble. And the various bases started to take rocket and mortar fire. It was not bad where they were at; there was really not much of a chance that anyone could get very close due to the flat and open terrain. Other bases were not so lucky. They got their first mortar attack in late September.

It was after dark and Liz and the others had just finished eating; they would relax for a while and then sack out. The air conditioned tents were a godsend, even though it was starting to get cooler at night. They had just left the mess tent, which was about a quarter mile from the ASP, and were heading towards the tents they had finally gotten that were decent; four to a tent which suited them fine. Suddenly there was a rustling sound that Liz recognized; she yelled at her friends “Incoming- get down” and hit the ground. RIGHT after that there were explosions several hundred yards away towards the living quarters of the tents. Liz lay there listening; when the explosions died away she looked for and found the nearest shelter and pulled her friends towards it. They sat in there as another group of rounds hit. After twenty minutes Liz poked her head out and then left it. The others slowly followed, still shaking a little. Liz shook her head.   
“Well I guess it had to happen sooner or later.” Then headed back to the living areas. They were glad to see that no damage had been done; all the rds had missed, though some shrapnel had holed a couple of tents.

Luckily the Brigade Commander reacted quickly and strengthened the guard force and reaction force. From that point on they patrolled aggressively at ranges that would force the mortar crews too far away to do much harm to the camp. So it never got as bad as it did in many other camps around Iraq. They were about 50 miles south west of Baghdad.

Liz touched the little decoration on the tiny tree they had come up with for Christmas in the Command tent of the ASP. It was coming up to 9 months here in Iraq; word was that their tour would probably be extended by 3 months so they would not be gone until August. Liz had just been promoted to E6 in September; she was told that was a further result of her award. She had only 9 months in rank as an E5 and would probably have not gotten an E6 until sometime in late 2004. Sergeant Axton had gotten his E8, long overdue in just about everyone’s mind. The Bad news was that Captain Simmons was being promoted out of the Company and into the Division G-4 office. Rogers had gotten his promotion to Captain and took over the company. Starting in January, Rogers would be in command. Liz would miss Captain Simmons, as they all would. Rogers was a good officer, but much less open and warm. Liz and Sergeant Axton had talked about it. 

“Rogers is competent and pretty straightforward; but I really liked Captain Simmons. He did his best to take care of us; and more importantly he showed that he cared.”

“This is a good promotion for Simmons; less than three years in grade, and he will be going to a position that has good chances for further promotion. Rogers will be all right; but I agree that Simmons was special.”

“So, any word on getting any more 89Bs?”

“Same answer as we always get- someday. Actually I doubt we see any more until we get back to Stewart.”

“Just when we do not need them anymore.”

“Well, realistically, with the strong QASAS support we have we really do not need them.”

“True. I just wish we had gotten luckier with our latest QASAS. Is he dry behind the ears yet?”

Axton just had to laugh. For someone who was not yet 21, and the QASAS in question being over 30, that was funny.  
“Well, luckily we really do not need a full time experienced QASAS like we did early on. And this one will be gone in 4 months.” 

“Just hope the next one is still not baking. Sometimes I have the answers and he does not. And that can be scary.”

“Liz, you spent a lot of time with our last QASAS soaking up as much as you could. You really do not need to worry about knowing things now as regards running an ASP and the basic ammunition questions. You got them down pat.”

“I guess. Still so much more to learn.”

“Not really Liz. Most of what you need to know as an 89B you got down well. Just a matter of learning bits and pieces here and there and connecting it all together. We have done virtually everything that we are ever likely to do here in Iraq as regards what Army Ammunition Specialists do. We have set up ASP’s and Field ASP’s, moved ammo, issued and turned it in. We have not had to destroy much but that is for EOD. Now closing a theatre ASP would be the only thing we have not done; and it’s not likely to happen.”

“Do you think they might put 89B on the stop loss list?”

“We are not important enough.”

They both smiled a little bitterly at that.

They had a real good going away party for Major Simmons; Liz was very sorry to see him go and made a point of telling him that. He also made a point of telling her that he was proud to have commanded a unit with her in it.  
“Liz, soldiers like you honor the officers who command. You and Sergeant Axton are soldiers any officer would give his eye teeth to have in his unit.”

Captain Rogers made it a point to talk to Axton and Liz his first day in command.  
“I am not an ammunition Expert. I am a truck driver with experience in moving ammunition around. You two are the ammunition experts when the QASAS is not around; and depending on who we have as a QASAS even then. So I expect you two make sure that things are done right as regards the ammunition itself. This company ran damn well under Captain Simmons and I live by the old saying, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”

Liz was very much reassured after that meeting. She too subscribed to that saying. It was just a shame that the rest of the Military did not.

Outside of an occasional mortar attack, which had never caused much damage or injured anyone severely, it had been a quiet few months leading up to the anniversary of the starting of the war. Word was that their redeployment was on schedule for August to September. Everyone hoped that was the case and nothing changed.

VIP’s were not common at the ASP, outside of those that dealt with it. But every now and then a few showed up. Never many, and never very high. Quite often their escorts were more important. Today was one of the few days when they actually had some real VIP’s. Two members of Congress, and one a member of the House Armed Services Committee. Which made that one VERY IMPORTANT. Liz had gotten used to being the one that took them around; Captain Rogers did not like to do it and since she was the one genuine Hero at the ASP (Liz really wanted to deck Maria for hanging that label on her) she was usually asked for anyway. Pictures with the only woman to ever win a medal for combat always looked good for the politicians and others. At least Liz had been able to use the experiences to learn how to do them pretty well. It was a pretty nice day in May, not too hot yet. 

They had just come out of one of the Milvans used to store ammo, and had closed it and were walking back towards the vehicles when that familiar sound came. It was very rare indeed for it to happen during the day but Liz was quick.

“INCOMING MORTARS! Everyone get DOWN!” Liz was going down when she saw that one of the Congressmen had frozen; she moved quickly and knocked him down just as a mortar round went off 25 feet away. She felt a sharp pain in her back as she hit the ground. After a few seconds she got up and hauled the much larger man up and pulled him towards one of the shelters, yelling for the rest of them to follow her. She got the rest of them in just as a second salvo hit. Farther away but still close. She kept them in there until she heard the all clear sound that meant the reaction force had located the mortar crew and had taken action.  
“OK. Sounds like the reaction force got them. Should be clear now.”

Despite the fact that there had been several officers with the group, none of them were combat. PR and the like. None of them argued with her. The Congressman shakily thanked her.  
“Sergeant, I froze. Might have been killed if you had not knocked me down.”

“That is ok sir. We get kind of used to things like that after a while. Quite a few freeze the first time.” Liz felt some pain in her back and reached back to touch it with her hand; she felt something wet and brought her hand back and looked at a fair amount of blood on her hand.  
“Well nuts. Looks like I caught some shrapnel.”

That focused everyone’s attention on her and most gasped as they saw the blood. One of the PR types reacted a little faster and yelled “MEDIC!” The congressman, horrified, promptly took Liz’s arm and sat her down on a box next to the shelter. The medic that traveled with the group was there in a moment.  
“OK, Sarge, let see how bad it is.” He then pulled her shirt up. The Shrapnel had hit about midway up her back, just to the right of her spine. There was a hole about the size of a nickel that was bleeding fairly well. He applied a bandage immediately. “OK, we need a medevac.”

Liz, strangely enough, did not feel too bad. They were making a big deal out of a small wound.  
“OH, come on. Someone can drive me to the aid station. Anyone with tweezers can probably pull it out. A few stitches and I will be fine.”

“Well Sarge, that may be true. But it’s better to be safe than sorry. And they will want to take an XRAY to see if there is any more and where it is. And it is too close to the spine to take any chances.”

Just in case a medevac was kept alerted whenever there were VIP’s of that rank around. The Chopper was in the air in 15 minutes and at the ASP in 15 more. Liz despite her protestations was placed face down and strapped to a rack and flown to the Main Medical center at Division. There they pulled her off and had her into an operating room in another 15 minutes where they XRAYED her back. Luckily there was only one piece, but it had gone in over an inch and a half. They gave her a local and dug it out and stitched her up. Then gave her some pain meds and put her in a bed. Unfortunately she had to rest on her stomach so they gave her a bed that raised the end up and she laid on it.  
“Doc, how long am I stuck here?”

“Not more than a couple of days. We just want to make sure no complications and no infections.”

The Congressman talking to the Division commander was blunt.  
“General, I froze. From what the EOD man said who looked at where the mortar round hit, the angle it had to be to hit her where it did, if she had not gotten in the way I might be dead.”

Word of the incident went up the ladder at Warp 9; but even then it got to the media faster than that; especially since several reporters were with the group. 

Early reports had the Congressman injured; that got interest right away. Then when the word leaked out that the congressman had probably been saved by none other than Sergeant Elizabeth Parker, and she had been wounded doing it, then the interest ramped up even higher.

Nancy Parker was at work when she was called in by the City administrator.  
“Nancy we just heard on the news. Liz got wounded in Iraq. Apparently some congressmen were touring where she was at and some mortar rounds hit; she supposedly knocked a congressman down that froze and took the hit that would have gotten him. They say it’s not serious but she has been medevac’d to a hospital.” 

Nancy was shaking. This was her nightmare. The City Administrator had someone drive her home, someone else bringing her car. Then he called one of her friends to stay with her and answer the phone. He knew the media would be all over this.

Nancy sat and waited. Ellen, a friend from work, was taking all phone calls. The city administrator had asked the sheriff to station someone outside the home in case the media showed up. It took almost 2 hours but they started to line up outside. The Deputy would not allow any of them to go to the door.

Liz was a little groggy from the pain meds, but demanded a phone to call her mother. She got one rather quickly.  
“Parker Residence. This is Ellen, if you are with the media there is no comment.”

“Ellen this is Liz. I am calling from the hospital. Let me speak to mom.”

Nancy grabbed the phone. “Honey how bad is it?”

“Got a hole in my back about the size of a nickel. They got the shrapnel out and XRAYED me and there is no more. I should be out of here in a day or two. They just want to make sure there is no infection. I am OK, mom.”

They spoke for a few more minutes before the doctor put an end to it; he talked to Nancy to further relieve her worries. The pain meds had hit by then and Liz conked out.

Maria and the others were relieved when Captain Rogers called them in and told them Liz would be fine and probably back in a few days.  
“Considering how hard it was to convince her to go, I bet she will be back as soon as she can.”

Interestingly enough the Congressman had no problems admitting that he had frozen. He embellished the incident somewhat, telling the media that odds were he would have been dead if Liz had not knocked him down. The piece of shrapnel would have hit him dead center in the chest.

So now the media haunted the Hospital. Liz was the highest profile patient they had had by far. The Divisional surgeon increased security and made it very clear that he would be royally pissed off with any comments made to the media; and even more pissed off if any of the media managed to sneak in and bother Sergeant Parker. 

Liz, meanwhile, was bored out of her gourd by the next day. The doctor checked the wound the first thing in the morning and changed the dressing.  
“So far so good. No signs of infection. Your white count is holding steady. We irrigated the wound heavily so we might have nipped any of that in the bud.”

One good thing is that they were able to rig a pillow and a pad so that she could sit up in bed. They had just got that done when the Congressman came in to visit her. He was alone except for a PR officer. No press.  
“Sergeant, you saved my life and I will not forget that.”

Liz was a little embarrassed but was somewhat relaxed due to the pain meds.  
“Sir, I reacted. The group was my responsibility. I would have done that for anyone.”

“I know that. But you did it for me. The EOD officer who came by right after measured from where the round hit and where you and I were and he is pretty sure that it would have hit me right in the middle of the chest. Could very well have killed me.”

Liz did not know what to say.

“I am from Georgia; not in the same district as Ft Stewart, unfortunately. But not that far away either. When you get out of here, and you have any problems at all, I consider it a privilege if you would contact me. I owe you a debt I cannot repay; and politicians always keep count. Thank you again.” 

Later on that afternoon the girls stopped by. Maria was blunt as usual.  
“Chica, you keep getting in those situations. Time you learned to just take care of yourself. What is one more politician anyway?” 

The Congressman made it a point to stop by CENTCOM on his way back to the States.   
“General, I want that young sergeant to be recognized for what she did.”

General Abizid nodded. “The Soldiers Medal seems to be appropriate. It is usually awarded when a life is saved in a hazardous situation.”

“That sounds good. Let me know when it will be done. I want to be there.”

Captain Rogers and Sergeant Axton were finding out just how much Liz got done around the ASP. The hard way since she was not there. They counted the days until she got back.

Liz managed to annoy the doctor enough that he let her go two days after the incident. With strict orders to take it easy and a medic to change the dressing each day for the next week and keep an eye out for problems. She called up the ASP.

“Captain, I annoyed the Doctor enough so that he will release me this morning. All I need is a ride back.”

“That we can do. The work is piling up around here. Now what are the restrictions?”

“I have to take it easy and the medic will have to change the dressing each day for the next week. Then he wants to see me and maybe take out the stitches. Other than that I have to probably stay in the tent and do paperwork.”

Isabelle and the others got to the Hospital only a couple hours later. They got lunch at the Divisional Mess hall which was much better than what they had at the ASP. Liz was back at the unit by 1400 and started on paperwork right away.

Liz found out that Captain Rogers had assigned Maria and Tess to make sure she did not overdo it. Liz complained that one mother was more than enough but the girls turned a deaf ear to that. 

Liz gradually got back into the swing of things and a week later got the stitches out. 

On the first of June, 2004, Liz was called into the divisional HQ. She had been told to put on her best uniform. She had suspicions but when the Congressman she had helped showed up, she figured it out. He was the one that pinned the Soldiers Medal on her. The division commander then pinned the Purple Heart on her. Pictures followed.

The girls later on told her that she was piling up the medals. With the DSC, the Soldiers Medal and now the Purple Heart, she was going to have some fairly thick fruit salad. Sergeant Axton pointed out to her that with the medals already awarded added to the ones she would get for serving in Iraq and so on, she would look very impressive in Class A’s. Liz blew a raspberry and said why waste the money on a Class A? 

In July, just after the 4th, they got the very welcome word that they would be deploying back to the States starting in the middle of August. By mid-September they would be back home. There had been some worry that they would be held over but that had not come true.

They were to find out that leaving sometimes was more complicated than coming. The good news was that they would not have to close anything down. But they would have to sign off on all things left; and account for all things lost. Luckily they had done a good job of keeping a paper trail. The National Guard unit that would be relieving them showed up three weeks before they were due to leave. Liz soon found out that rumors about the state of NG Ordnance companies were true. 

One week after meeting their replacements, Captain Rogers, Liz and Axton had a quiet meeting with Major Simmons at Division G-4. Rogers started.  
“Major, this bunch is really bad. They do NOT know what they are doing. The only good thing is that the new QASAS is experienced so he can help. But they are really lost.”

Sergeant Axton was next. “They do not know how to fill out 1348-1’s. They do not know the meaning of most of the information on that form.”

Liz was next. “They have no concept of storage groups. Quantity Distance is unknown to them. Basic explosive safety is a mystery.”

Major Simmons nodded. “I am not surprised. I will tell the G4 but all I can probably tell you is to help them as much as you can and make sure that anything happening after we leave is on them. Liz, work on them as much as possible; I know you probably have more references than anyone in Iraq. So let them have copies of that and your notes. That is probably all we can do.”

Later that day he told the Division G4.  
Colonel Hough nodded. “I know. We see it all over. Have your people do the best that they can in the time left; and CYA. Too many of them do not want to learn. We cannot force them to.”

The Division support troops were the last ones to leave; Liz was just about on the last convoy to Kuwait on 12 September, 2004. They spent a further 3 weeks in Kuwait before they caught their planes back to the US. One good thing about not taking any leave for almost 2 years; you had a fair amount saved up. Once back at Ft Stewart, just about everyone would get 30 days leave.

Nancy had been planning for Liz’s homecoming. Liz would stay with her for a week; then they would take some time and visit a couple of places and relax. Liz then intended to travel some; visit Tess and her parents in Roswell; Isabelle and her parents in Kansas City; and Maria and her mother in Louisville. Then she would get back to Ft Stewart with a few days to go before coming back to duty. She had bought a nice little car and would be driving across the country. Nancy had told Liz that she was looking at seeing if she could find a job farther south in a nicer climate. Liz told her that would be great. Then Nancy asked her about her plans.  
Liz was pensive. “Well, technically I will have fulfilled my four year active duty commitment next June. I can go out and serve the other four years in the Reserves or NG. Then go to college. But l still do not know what I want to do; I want to have a good idea of that before committing. Actually college seems less and less important to me. One thing I can do; according to the guys I have talked to, is once out of the Army apply for one of the QASAS classes. Every one of them I have talked to told me I would breeze right in. The pay there is real good; and the job I already pretty much know. The only downside of that is that every 3-5 years I would be moving. Which is about what the Military does. I am just not sure.”

Nancy took that in. Liz was so very different in some ways and yet still the same in others. Liz had looked death in the eye; had faced her own mortality before she was old enough to drink. She now knew the hard part of life; the tough side of the world. Liz was now an adult. Nancy could give council and advice, but the decisions would be hers.


	4. Decision Made

3 weeks later, with 3 days of leave left, Liz drove into Ft Stewart. She went to the quarters she would still share with Maria, and unpacked. She stood in front of the window of the room and looked over at the other buildings. The 3rd ID was trickling back into the base. But most had not yet arrived back. They were taking as much time as they could. Liz had enjoyed the trip across the country. She had never before really seen much of the US. Now she had. Liz knew she had fully grown up in Iraq; made the final transition from teen to adult. Certainly not the easiest way to do it, but it had got the job done. Now she had to think hard about what she wanted to do with her life. She knew she wanted to meet a nice guy, get married and have children. She wanted a career that she liked and that meant something.

Liz had only about 8 months left before her tour of active duty was up. She could skate through that quite well. She had plenty of money in the bank and with the GI Bill she would be able to go to college; but the problem was that like she had told her mother, college just did not seem all that important to her anymore. You did not need that to have a career, though it certainly helped. Liz knew she was getting close to what she was trying to figure out, but was not yet there.

Liz called into the Ordnance Company office the next day; and found out that only Sergeant Axton was in. She headed down. 

When she walked in the door, Sergeant Axton grinned.  
“Hail the conquering hero!”

Liz gave him a dirty look.  
“With all due respect, sergeant, stick that where the sun don’t shine.”

“Division PR wants you to do some interviews; the Media still want to talk to you. Since they did not get anything over there, they figure they can over here.”

“Can I refuse?”

“Probably. But honestly Liz, they are going to keep at you until they get what they want. An interview with the first woman to win a Medal for Valor in combat.”

Liz sighed and sat down. “You figure I just better get it out of the way?”

“Yeah. Just do a couple and then say no more. That at the least will get Division PR off of your neck.”

“OK. So how do things look?”

“Pretty good. Things will be quiet until the Division starts training again; which won’t be for at least a month or two. Though there is word coming down about division realignment; changing the structure. Having a division support or sustainment brigade with all the support companies there. Kind of stupid; just another level of bureaucrats and desk jockeys.”

“Figures. Sarge, I have 8 months left, assuming that 89B does not become a stop loss. I know, you do not have to roll your eyes we both know we will never be that important. I am kind of lost about what to do. On one hand, being in this company with everyone has been mostly great. But it has sucked as well; and it’s a given that in a year or so we will be going back to Iraq. Though probably not as a division if what I have heard is true.”

“It is. They will send one brigade at a time. One here; one coming home and one going there. So each brigade will probably go every two years or so. Until it’s done. Now with us, it will be interesting. Only a section will go. They will have to increase our size so that they can split it up so that enough can stay here to run things and enough can go there to run things. It will be kind of crazy.”

Liz nodded. “Maria and Tess and Isabelle all are going to be going out next June. I will not like this place anywhere near as much without them. And going back to Iraq without them is just not something I want.”

“I probably will be transferring out as well. Been here 8 years and that is about it. I have only 6 more years to go before my 20 is done. I am going to be looking to go somewhere to settle down and prepare for life after the Army.”

Liz was not surprised; but saddened. Her half decision was just about done.  
“OK. Well that tells me I do not want to stay here. But the question is, do I want to stay in the military?” 

Axton sat back. Liz was someone who made the day seem brighter. She was just that way. He did not want to see her lose that. Staying here doing the same thing he feared it would start to fade.

“OK. Here are some thoughts. One: go somewhere else; but if you stay at what you are doing you will be going back to Iraq doing the same thing. Two: Go for some other MOS. But the fact is that just about everyone will be going to Iraq at least a couple more times before it’s all over. Three: go for the reserves and go to college. Four: go to the NG and the same; but once again you will probably be going back to Iraq doing the same thing or something similar. But if you are in college you can delay it four years. Five: become a recruiter; the Army would LOVE that.”

Liz thought about that for a few minutes.  
“One: you are right and no way. Two: Same unless I go for recruiter. Which also covers Five. Three and four: college just does not thrill me and I do not know what career I want. I still feel that college without a goal is a waste for me. Like I am just delaying things. I want a family. One other possibility I have been tossing around is going for an appointment to West Point. That congressman owes me and I could call in that favor.”

Axton nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah. But somehow I just do not see you at the trade school. So much of what they teach there you already know.”

Liz nodded slowly. That was true. Discipline and the basics she already knew. Engineering did not thrill her; high level calculus and math had never been enjoyable for her though she could do it. And four years of being locked up there; no way.  
“Yeah, the point is out.”

Axton was thinking. “OK. Here is another consideration. OCS. With your record and your scores and SATs and everything, you can get in no sweat. 100 days and you are an officer. It would be a lot different. And you would probably be able to pretty much choose your branch. They are opening more and more up to women now. You could go right in and say go for aviation and become a rotorhead.”

Slowly Liz nodded. “Yeah. That is true. I forgot that recruiters are stuck in one place for three years; the one I got was locked up in Northern Wyoming. Had enough of there.”

“Well, you would probably be able to just about pick your spot.”

“True. My recruiter was a good guy; but even so you are a salesman. And somehow I just do not want to go that route. Even if I got somewhere I loved. Same with going into PR. I would be selling myself in the process.”

“And if you go into recruiting they will use your record and reputation. And I do mean USE.”

“Ya. OK that is out. More and more your OCS sounds like an idea. Aviation as well. I like it.” Suddenly Liz just knew she had found the way. She grinned at Axton. “That is it, Sarge. That is the plan.”

Axton grinned. Seeing her come to the decision and her eyes light up was real good. And he thought it was the way to go; plus the Army needed officers like Liz.

Her decision made she headed over to Personnel. After stopping by Division PR and telling them to go ahead and schedule a couple of interviews.

The Personnel officer who saw her was straightforward when he met her.  
“Sergeant Parker, you can pretty much write your ticket. That fact that you got one of the Congressmen of the House Armed Services Committee in your pocket means that the US Army is not going to mess with you.”

Liz grinned. “I have decided to go for OCS. So what do I need to do?”

He gave her the booklets and options and promised to research the possibilities and get back to her. 

Liz called up her mother and let her know what she had decided. Nancy had hoped she would leave the military but was not surprised; and she once again told her daughter how very proud of her she was. 

The next day Liz got her Class A uniform which she had not yet worn in public out and put it on. Then headed over to the Division PR office. She was rather surprised that the deputy PR officer was going to go with her to Savannah where the Interviews would happen. Fox News was first; followed by ABC news.

The Fox news person was getting her ready; she would be talking to the National Anchors on the morning show.  
“Sergeant Parker, how are you doing?”

“Quite well.”

And from there on it was a breeze. Liz did not realize it but she looked very impressive with all her decorations. Each of them asked what her plans were; all she said was that at this time she was looking at staying in the Military.

The PR officer said to her when it was over. “Frankly, if you want to come over to PR, you would do real good here. You communicate very well.”

She smiled. “Probably not. I hate having to dress up all the time.” 

The next day Isabelle and the others were back and they all went out to the restaurant and exactly as Maria had said drank a bottle of the same Champagne.

Maria then fixated on Liz. “Chica, I saw the interview yesterday. You looked very impressive there. And what is this about staying in?”

Liz smiled and sat back. “I am going for OCS.”

The others blinked. Tess said “Really? Then what?”

“I am thinking of going into Aviation; maybe end up flying Apache’s.”

Isabelle was surprised. “Wow. Army as a career as an officer. Not college?”

“More and more I am thinking not. Just does not feel right. I will be taking college courses as an officer, but off and on.”

Maria had been thinking. “Do you have an idea when you will be starting?”

“Probably not until the spring at the earliest.”

“Well that is ok then, when you leave will be about the same time we all get out.” 

Liz smiled. “OK guys, let’s hear your plans.”

Tess smiled. “College for me; just not sure where.”

Isabelle nodded. “Same here.”

Maria “Make that three.” 

“OK. You guys will need to get your applications in fairly soon to get acceptance for the fall semester. And unless you go to a university in your parents’ home state, you will have to pay out of state tuition. So I have a suggestion if you do not have strong feelings. University of Georgia.”

The girls looked at each other then at Liz. Liz grinned. “Well I can smell wood burning so you are all thinking.” 

By the time they went back to their quarters, the girls were coming around to the idea. Liz had then pointed out that even after OCS, if she went to Army Aviation School that was at Rucker, which was not all far away from the University of Georgia. They would be in the same part of the country; able to see each other on occasion. Liz had come to realize that those three were her best buds, friends for life. She would not let them go.

Things began to start up again once they were on duty. But now it was a case of just finishing up. Even Captain Rogers was looking to get out and go into business with his brother in law. By the middle of the year the whole Ordnance Company would be a memory. Things were going to be reorganized anyway. A sustainment Brigade would oversee all division support units.

Liz’s application for OCS was put in and accepted quickly. She also had personnel put out feelers as regards to the Aviation School in Ft Rucker and the initial response was favorable. She would be hitting OCS in May; finishing it in August, and starting Aviation School in September. That would run 18 months and she would be done in January of 2007. Liz felt she had a plan. More good news was that her promotion to E7 had come through.

Major Simmons sat back and sighed. The Ordnance Company would be a ghost unit by summer. Every single vital soldier would be gone one way or another. Tasked by G4 to keep track of such things, what with the changes coming to the organization, he had known it would probably not be good but this was really bad. The commander going out; the top two sergeants and only capable 89B’s leaving; the best techs as regards TAMIS and the records going out. He walked over to the G4’s office.

Colonel Hough looked at him. “This is very bad. Word is that we will be deploying at least one brigade by the middle of next year. That gives us at best a year to completely rebuild that company.”

“Yes sir. And getting good 89B’s is still a nightmare; we are due to get some fresh ones this year but they will be very green. And as regards competent senior leadership, we might be able to put in place a sergeant or two; but they will not be 89B’s.”

Hough looked at the details. “Sergeants Axton and Parker; that was really where the leadership has been. Losing both of them is what is really going to hurt. Everything else is manageable.”

“Exactly sir. What we need to do is get some people in there now; competent people and have the outgoing Sergeants work on training them up.”

“All right. Get down to personnel and have them go over every E7 in this division; I want recommendations of who we can transfer in. If necessary I will go right to the Commander to have the best ones moved in. Let their commanders howl if they want; the Ordnance Company is too important to short change.”

Major Simmons nodded. The recent explosion at an ASP in Iraq had been investigated and the Brigade commander had been reprimanded; the Ordnance company commander had been relieved for cause. Belatedly the higher ups were starting to finally get it.

The senior Congressman for Georgia, member of the House Armed Services Committee, looked at the report then at his staffer.  
“This sounds like a typical bureaucratic screw up but it’s worse than that, is what you are saying?”

“Yes sir. The pentagon has ignored the Ammunition side of the house for a long time; underfunded and not considered important. Which is very stupid but there you are. The personnel situation is just as bad if not worse overall. 89B’s are very low priority; and there is no reason any ambitious soldiers want to go there. Promotions are very slow and recognition nonexistent.”

The Congressman sat back for a minute. “Call up Ft Stewart and schedule a visit tomorrow. I want to talk with the Division G4. And specifically I want to talk to some 89B’s there at FT Stewart. Sergeant Parker for one; and I believe another is Sergeant Axton, if I recall correctly.”

“Yes, Congressman. We will be waiting for you at 0900. Those personnel will be waiting.”

Colonel Hough sighed as he put down the phone. Then he buzzed the Commander; he had not even had a chance to talk to him yet about the problem with the Ordnance Company.

The Division Commander sighed; were things ever simple? He had told the G4 to get to his office ASAP and bring Major Simmons with him.

“OK, Colonel. Give me the bad news.”

“Basically sir, by this summer the Ordnance Company will be a ghost unit. The Commander is leaving the military to go into private business; the two senior sergeants are transferring out. The best supply techs are leaving the military to enter college. And there are not competent people there to replace them. The two LTs are basically spot fillers; and that is all. There are no other senior sergeant’s period. Some new supply techs will be coming in this spring but they will be very green. We will have no competent 89Bs once Sergeants Axton and Parker are gone; and getting them is a joke. We are due a couple in the spring but who knows if they will be good and they WILL be green.”

The general sighed and rubbed his eyes. “And what does the congressman want?”

“Well, sir, as you well know he is the one Sergeant Parker saved. He showed at that time a fair amount of interest in the ASP and the ordnance company. I am guessing that he wants to know more. I seriously doubt he knows about what is about to happen to what is currently a very good and capable company. But he will find out and he will want to know what we are going to do about it. With that incident at that ASP in Iraq, visibility of this area has skyrocketed. Overall the Ammunition situation in the entire Army as regards personnel and ability is not good; frankly not surprising since it has been ignored and considered unimportant for over a generation.” 

“Stupid but not surprising when looking at how the Pentagon does things. Well I want to have a plan by the time the Congressman gets here tomorrow on how we are going to rebuild the Ordnance Company. That will have top priority over any unit in this division as of right now.”

Colonel Hough took a deep breath. “Sir, I had personnel go through the records of every E7 in this division; and Major Simmons is going to look through the best and pick two to be transferred to the Ordnance Company immediately. That will give Sergeants Parker and Axton at least 6 months to train them. But this will need your signature.”

“I want those transfer orders on my desk by 1700 today.”

“Yes sir.”

Major Simmons rubbed his eyes; he had been going over a total of 50 E7’s personnel files. One of the criteria had to be that they had been with the division in Iraq. Or had been to Iraq. He wanted only those who had been there and done that. They would need to be with the Ordnance Company for at least 2 years. So he had whittled down the possibles to 6. He was going to talk to all 6 before picking two of them. 

Sergeant Williams had been in the first Brigade as Infantry; he was a no nonsense type that got things done. Sergeant Alexander had been in 3rd Brigade, also as Infantry. He was very competent if a little easier going than Sergeant Williams. Williams was slightly senior. Major Simmons had chosen those two; and had the transfer orders made out by 1630 to give to Colonel Hough. The two other sergeants in the Ordnance Company were going to be switched out for them. Major Simmons had no doubt the screams from both brigade commanders would be heard all the way to Savannah. 

Liz and Axton had been informed about the Congressman early the previous afternoon. PR had wanted them in Class A’s, but Colonel Hough had vetoed that. The Congressman was after answers, not a photo op.

Major Simmons had come to the Ordnance Company office at 0700 to brief them.

Captain Rogers, Liz and Axton were in his office listening.  
“The two new Sergeants will be here next week. They need to be brought up to speed before you two leave. I already have a candidate in mind for the Commander slot. He will be coming in May, just before Captain Rogers leaves. He was a veteran of the fighting in Fallujah, so he knows the score. Now as regards the Congressman; he specifically mentioned talking to Sergeants Axton and Parker; and about the Ordnance Company. We are guessing that the recent mess in Iraq at that ASP, and his own personal interest in Ammunition matters, is what this is all about. There will be no media here. He clearly wants information and is coming to people he knows will give him the straight shit. The Division Commander and G4 have decided that nothing will be held back; we are going to tell him that the 3rd ID’s Ordnance Company is going to be gutted; but that we are taking action. The Division commander has also given you two the OK to fully inform the Congressman on the sorry state of the Ammunition Specialist situation for the entire US ARMY. I think that is what this is really about. He got a report and now he is coming to the horse’s mouth."

Sgt Axton raised an eyebrow. "Surprised the Division commander is willing for us to spill the beans about the situation in the Army as a whole."

"I get the impression that the Division Commander wants action taken and figures this is the way to go. Anything that improves the situation army wide is a good thing. An influential congressman can do that."

Right on time at 0900 the congressman with one assistant and no media showed up at the conference room at HQ. In attendance were Colonel Hough, Major Simmons, Captain Rogers, Sergeants Axton and Parker. Introductions were made and they all sat down.

The congressman started out.  
"I am here because of a report that was compiled for me by one of my staff members from information furnished by the Pentagon; specifically the Undersecretary for Personnel. In it there is a damning report about the situation of the Ordnance specialties, particularly the 89B MOS. Now many have heard about the increasing use of IED's and the need for more EOD personnel. But nothing is heard about this shortage; and it’s even more damning that the 89B MOS is not on the Stop Loss list.  
So I am here to find some things out."

At virtually the same minute the SECDEF was chewing on the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel.  
"The Congressman wanted that kind of detailed information and I was not informed? Whenever they get that specific something is coming and it’s usually not good. You should have told me of this request as soon as you got it. Now send me the same packet you sent him and do it RIGHT NOW. And I want a separate report on that area done by you and it better be thorough by 1700 today." 

"What is the current state of the Ordnance Company of the 3rd ID and what will its state be in one years’ time."

Major Simmons knew this was his.  
"Currently we are as we were in Iraq. Captain Rogers is leaving the military in June. Sergeant Axton is transferring to Ft Carson in July. Sergeant Parker is leaving for OCS in May. Our two senior supply Techs are leaving the military in June."

The Congressman whistled. "So the ordnance company will be gutted in 6 months."

"Yes sir. We have two competent senior NCO's who will be transferred in next week from Infantry Brigades. Both veterans of Iraq. The new commander for the Company is also a veteran of Iraq. 4 new Supply techs will be in by March. We should have time to bring all newbies up to speed by the time the experienced personnel leave."

"None of these people transferring in know a thing about Ammunition."

"That is correct, sir."

"Is this common?"

"Losing all your experienced personnel in a 3 month period is rare. But transferring in people that are unskilled in Ammunition is the rule."

What is the state of the 89B MOS Army wide?"

"Bad sir. Only one class is given each quarter at Benning, the only school for 89B. The class size has been doubled from 20 to 40. But the loss rate of 89B's transferring out is higher than what comes in. Doubling the class size will probably hold us at about where we are right now."

"That is what my report pretty much said. Why is this happening, Sergeant Parker?"

Liz took a deep breath. "Ammunition Specialists get little respect. PR is more highly regarded. Promotions are rare; recognition is nonexistent. No one wants to go into it; most try and get out as soon as they can. This is a direct result of years of deliberate decisions at the Pentagon level that has trickled down to the unit level. When the troops see the contempt with which a MOS is held by the higher ups, they get the message.”

Colonel Hough winced. But he could not truthfully disagree. The Congressman noticed this.

“Was the sergeant incorrect, Colonel?”

“No sir. Regrettably she is correct.” 

“And you are leaving it as well, Sergeant Parker.”

“Yes Sir. I have had a wonderful time overall in this company. I have worked with fine people mostly and done an important job well. But this is not what I want to do for the rest of my career. I know that if I stay as an 89B I will go no farther than Sergeant Axton has. He had been stuck at E7 for 6 years because he stayed in the 89B MOS. I have been extremely fortunate to just get my E7. But no matter what, if I stayed I would not get promoted for many years. While others in different MOS’s did get promoted. Now promotions are not everything, but it’s a symptom of what is wrong. We get very little respect from anyone anywhere. If I stay as an 89B I will inevitably end up in a company badly led with incompetent people stuck there because no one else will take them. And when dealing with High Explosives that is not a recipe for a long life.” 

The congressman was silent for a moment. Then looked at Sergeant Axton.

“Do you disagree, Sergeant?”

“No sir. Sergeant Parker is the best young 89B I have come across since I became one myself 10 years ago. The fact that she is leaving is no surprise at all; if I was to give her advice on her career I would tell her to leave. Everything she described I have seen firsthand. I have several friends that were promoted much faster than I was primarily because they were in a more highly regarded MOS.”

“What would you recommend to redress this sad situation?”

“Until Ammunition Specialists are given their just do, and the Pentagon treats them as something other than worthless, nothing will change. So this attitude change needs to start at the top and be maintained. I would recommend that 89B Warrant Officers be established; and make them attractive. Another problem is that the ammunition area is ignored and denigrated. Facilities and equipment are usually the last to get funding and upgrades. It is just another symptom of the disregard Ammunition constantly has to deal with.”

Colonel Hough looked at Major Simmons. The two sergeants had really ripped the entire leadership of the US Army and the DOD.

The congressman had been silent, thinking for a minute.  
“Sergeant Parker, tell me why competent Ammunition specialists are important.”

Liz braced herself.  
“Ammunition is the most dangerous item that the military deals with on a day to day basis. Do you want lazy, incompetent, badly led and badly trained people dealing with that every day? That is what most of the Army does at this time. The recent incident in Iraq was completely due to what has been discussed. And that incident will not be the last. After Desert Storm there was a huge explosion at an ASP due to the Ammunition Specialists involved being incompetent and ignoring basic safety rules. Around the world there is usually one large incident like that each year or every other year. All for basically the same reasons. Sir, that is the way it is. We will be killing soldiers and civilians in the future in totally preventable incidents.”

He thought for a minute.  
“The real Ammunition experts in the Army are the QASAS. What is their role as you see it?”

“They are the real experts as you have stated. We had 4 separate QASAS in Iraq. 2 were very good; but two were very green and should not have been sent. Luckily by the time the green ones showed up we were established and going well. QASAS are badly needed because of the lack of 89B’s with real training and real experience. One other bad thing that goes on is that quite often even those 89B’s that want training cannot get it. I made it a point to go to them as soon as I arrived at Ft Stewart. I talked to them every chance I could get and they taught me lot. They also told me that I was very rare. Only because Major Simmons as my company commander agreed was I able to spend that much time learning from them. They told me that they try at every camp post and station they are assigned to that they ask the ordnance personnel there to come for training. Most of the time they are not allowed to come; other training is considered more important and specific training in their MOS is not considered important. One more symptom of an endemic problem in the US Army. Bottom line the QASAS are all too often doing the job that the 89B’s should be doing. But they cannot be everywhere and often they are not all that experienced themselves. They should be the last line defending the safety of Ammunition but all too often they are the ONLY ones around that know what to do. That is a situation that guarantees disaster sooner or later.”

The congressman sat for a few minutes.  
“Well I can see that the report was understated; as I expected. I have the basics now. If you would I would like you to show me the ASP here and explain the details of the job.” 

Colonel Hough and Major Simmons left for HQ, Captain Rogers pointedly told sergeants Axton and Parker that since they know what they are talking about they will conduct the tour. The Congressman looked at him.

“Captain, I take it nothing said here surprises you or that you disagree with?”

“Sir, I was shot with luck taking over the company from Major Simmons. I had a very good situation compared to most incoming Ordnance Company commanders. What sergeants Parker and Axton said are dead on. One of the Reasons I am getting out of the Military is that I am typed as ordnance and will not get a good posting after this. And If I stay in ordnance I will be ending up with a company as Sergeant Parker described. I want to live a long life with all my parts intact. Staying in Ordnance at this time is not a good way to have that.”

Liz and Axton spent the next 2 hours taking the Congressman all over the ASP and to all the current ammunition operations. His assistant was writing a book from all the notes he was taking. 

When they were done the congressman thanked them.  
“This was the best and most complete and honest briefing I have ever gotten. You two are a real credit to the US Army. Sergeant Axton, I hope you do well in your next posting. Sergeant Parker, I would like a word with you alone.”

They moved a little distance.

“You are going to OCS. What after that?”

“Aviation. I am thinking of becoming a rotorhead.”

“Combat?”

“Yes sir. I want to be able to shoot back with a lot more than I am shot at with. I would like to end up driving an Apache.”

“Good luck. If someone is giving you a problem because you are a woman, I want to know about it. It’s time the military was dragged out of the Stone Age on this.” 

“Thank you, sir.”

“I owe you Liz. I pay my debts.” 

The SECDEF read the full report the following morning. Then he called the Undersecretary.  
“This is a failure of your department. Critical area not identified. I have no doubt that next week when I testify before the committee, the Congressman will be chewing me on this. I want a plan to present him on how this problem will be solved.”

Colonel Hough briefed the Division commander. After he was done the Commander sat back and looked at him.

“You think he will confront SECDEF next week on this.”

“I would put serious money on that, Sir.”

“The sergeants really unloaded.”

“Yes sir. And I cannot reasonably disagree with anything they said.”

“I can’t either.”

SECDEF took his seat before the House Armed Services Committee. The Chairman thanked him for his attendance. Then turned to his right.

“The Honorable Congressman from Georgia would like to ask some questions.”

“Mr. Secretary, the recent incident in Iraq, the explosion at an ammunition storage site, was it or was it not due to an endemic problem with Ammunition Specialists in the US Army?”

The SECDEF had decided to play along; he had had way too many confrontational situations already; if he could avoid one he would in this case.

“Basically yes.”

“I asked the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel for a report on Ammunition Specialists in the US Army, specifically the MOS 89B. The report made for unpleasant reading and I have had it put into the Congressional Record. The bottom line is that the Ammunition field in general, and the personnel field part of Ammunition in particular, is bad explicitly due to the failure of the US Army at the senior level over a period of decades to give proper recognition, attention and funding. What is in the past is in the past. Mr. Secretary, what are you going to do to fix that situation?” 

“Sir, this is a problem as you have said that has been in the making for many years. From all previous administrations and congresses going back at least 20 years. The only real solution is to make it clear again and again that Ammunition is a priority. That should be self-evident to any military but it has not been so as regards the US Army. I have my staff working on specific proposals. One of the suggestions I am considering is adding the 89B MOS to the Stop Loss program. For the future since right now as you have stated and the report makes clear, there are not that many right now that are worth keeping. I am going to make it an Army policy that the condition of the ordnance company will be an increased factor in the rating of commanders at brigade level and above, all the way to Major Command level as regards all areas of Ammunition. Those officers that inherited bad situations and did not improve them will be downgraded at the same level as having combat units fail inspections and failing as operational units. If you do not have 75% of your 89B’s positions filled with trained and qualified personnel you will fail. That should start down the road of making commanders take proper notice of Ammunition. I am directing the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel to make filling 89B positions a critical need. There will be expanded training programs and more classes held per year. What I will further request is increased funding for Ammunition procurement and the steady improvement of ammunition facilities and equipment. Those are my basic proposals, sir.”

The congressman nodded. “That sounds like a good start, Mr. Secretary. I just this last week visited Ft Stewart and talked with the personnel at that ASP. What they told me filled out the in between the lines part of that report. Clearly there needs to be a sustained change of attitude that starts at the top and is maintained all the way down to company level. That all starts with you, sir. You must set the tone.”

The SECDEF got that message loud and clear. The congressman was telling him that if he worked hard in this area the SECDEF would get help in other areas. As an old Washington hand, SECDEF knew a good deal when it was offered.

“I can promise you sir that I will set a new tone and those below me that are tone deaf will regret that.” 

True to his promise, the very next week a SECDEF directive went out to all services with particular emphasis to the Army that Ammunition would no longer be the despised bastard. It was now a favored legitimate son.

Sergeant Williams knew Sergeant Alexander casually. He received his transfer orders the day after the Congressman had visited the base. Rumor as usual had moved with the speed of light and it was fairly accurate. He remembered the interview with Major Simmons. He sought out Alexander to talk to him.

“Sounds like command really got shook up by that visit.”

“Yep, I got word that the ordnance company is losing virtually everyone over a period of just a few months this summer. I am surprised command is taking it this seriously.”

“Yeah. But one cannot say that it’s wrong. Ordnance has been given way too low a priority in the Army for a long time.”

“We were lucky in our deployment, we had a good ordnance company. Not many other divisions can say the same.”

“I guess it will be mostly up to us to make sure the ordnance company stays good.”

They both arrived at the Ordnance company office the day after the SECDEF’s appearance before Congress. Word had already trickled down that there would be big changes; if the SECDEF held to his promise about grading officers heavily on ammunition matters that would indeed have a serious effect. Nothing got the attention of ambitious officers more than that.

Captain Rogers was waiting for them and took them into his office and had the door closed.

“You two were chosen because you were the best available NCO’s this division had for these positions. The importance of the Ordnance Company has been recently raised to a much higher level. The scrutiny will be increased greatly. Sergeant Williams, you will be working with Sergeant Axton, who has been the senior NCO in this company for five years. Much of the reason it is good is because of him. Sergeant Alexander, you will be working with Sergeant Parker, our best 89B. With all due respect to Sergeant Axton. She is leaving in May; Sergeant Axton is leaving at the end of June. That gives you, Sergeant Williams, 7 months and you Sergeant Alexander, just under 6 months to learn what you need to know. The QASAS here at Ft Stewart have already let us know that they will be available for training. That will be done. Dismissed.”

Sergeant Axton then took Williams to his office and Liz took Sergeant Alexander to her office.

Alexander was well aware of whom Sergeant Parker was; everyone in the division knew of her. Tiny, cute as a button, smart and tough. She would have had to have been to have gotten herself and her people out of that clusterfuck. And then having a Congressman and more particularly a congressman on the Armed Services Committee, thinking he owed her his life was something to think about as well. Like most combat veterans, he had doubted that that piece of shrapnel would have seriously injured or killed him; but you never knew. And she had certainly taken the hit for him.

Liz liked what she saw of Sergeant Alexander. Good looking without being too good looking; did not have that arrogant air all too many like that had. Had a very good record or Simmons would not have picked him.

“Thomas, call me Liz. My job is to teach and your job is to learn. We have less than six months for you to learn what it has taken me 3 years. Obviously you cannot become as knowledgeable as I am now in 6 months, but you can learn enough to do your job well. First off, outside of what you have picked up in the infantry, what do you know of Ammunition and how it is handled and worked?”

“Liz, I know a fair amount about transporting it; not much about storage or working on it.”

“OK. Here is a basic outline that I have come up with that shows what I do here at the Ordnance Company. I have put the appropriate references in each row so you know where to go to find out why it is done that way.’

Liz then handed him a black binder that had about 200 pages in document protectors. He opened it up and looked at it. He whistled as he went through it quickly.

“This is more than a full time job.’

“Yes it is.”

A few days later the newbies were talking to each other at lunch.

“Axton really knows his stuff; never knew how much there was to learn.”

“Parker is a workaholic; she does the work of 3 easily. Which is necessary due to the lack of competent 89Bs. But she also has it all written out with references to the regulations. So I have a real good fall back reference.”

“Make a copy for me. Axton told me that Parker is the best 89B he has ever had. And she is organized up the wazoo.”

For years to come, Liz’s book would be the bible of the Ft Stewart Ordnance Company, and would get spread around gradually over many others.

Liz looked around her office. This was the last day for her before she took 2 weeks leave and then reported to Ft Benning for OCS. Maria and the others had taken her out last night and they had had a blast. There was a dinner being held for her at a local restaurant. She had just a little while ago been given an award for sustained superior performance signed by the Division Commander; he had presented it personally. She was accumulating a very nice file of commendations and awards. Which would help in the future before promotion boards.

Sergeant Alexander had proven a quick study and was already copying her habit of talking to the QASAS as much as possible. She felt he would do a good job. Sergeant Williams looked like he would do well as the company senior NCO. The new supply techs had been worked on hard by Maria and Tess and they thought they would do ok. The going away party by Maria, Tess and Isabelle had been a little emotional. But they had all been admitted to Georgia for the fall term so Liz would find a way to visit on occasion and they could always talk to each other on the phone.

The new company Commander was already studying under Rogers, and Liz thought he would do well. Major Simmons had told her at the award ceremony that they thought that the Ordnance Company would do OK, if not as good as it had been.

The SECDEF memorandum had really shaken things up; much more notice was taken of the Ammunition field, and in particular the 89B MOS. And the media had gotten into the act. There had been several requests to talk to Liz from the media; which had been refused with Liz’s full approval. She did NOT want to become the poster child for anything; if she was getting out of the Military it would be OK; but as she was staying in for the time being it would be bad.

Liz felt pretty good as she left the dinner; Colonel Hough and Major Simmons had been there as was just about everyone from the Ordnance company. IT was good to be appreciated.

The only not so good note had come from Maria the night before.

“Liz, you really need to start dating. It is no fun being a nun.”

And Liz had thought about that some since. Maria was right. Problem was that dating anyone in the same unit was looking for trouble; and dating anyone out of your unit was hard to do when you were as busy as Liz had been. Dating a civilian meant actually meeting one worth dating; and then the fact that in a few years you would be going anyway. Well, not much chance of her finding time in the next 2 years.

Liz spent a week visiting her mother; then left for Benning. She was able to get into her quarters early; and was able to wander around Benning and talk to some people. She found that her old 89B instructor was still there and talked to him.

“How has the SECDEF’s directive changed things?”

“Certainly stirred them up. Funding for more classes and more instructors. And the fact that a Brigade commander got relieved due to that mess in Iraq has tightened things up a lot. Now the question is will this be maintained long enough to change the atmosphere. That is the real question. I guess one can hope. You have done very well. As I had hoped. Sad to see you leave the 89B but I can hope that you will come back to it someday. If the emphasis remains, in four or five years 89B and ammunition will be looked upon as a good assignment.” 

As Liz found out, OCS was pretty tough. She had expected it, but it was still tough and not particularly pleasant. But she toughed it out; her experience and nature responding to the challenge. There were 160 in her class; 40 to a section. She was determined to lead her section by the end of the OCS. Fortunately for her that her inclinations to study and bent towards organization helped her immensely. She had always been good at tests and this was no different.

After 6 weeks the course instructors gathered for their midterm review. One of the functions they had to determine was class ranking.

“Section 1, I need your top 5. The rest of you the same. I want them by noon today. All reviews and anything derogatory I want by 1700 today.”

The chief instructor was busy compiling the overall ratings. He talked to each Section Instructor to discuss the leading candidates.

“So as regards Section 3. You have Jenkins and Parker as 1 and 2; and your note says that there is a fair amount of distance to three.”

“Yes sir. It’s neck and neck with those two and well clear of the rest. Parker has aced the tests while the field exercises Jenkins is better and I give him the overall edge because of that but it is close.”

“This is just between us, but I was told to keep a special eye on Parker for obvious reasons. Apparently that congressman has maintained an interest and the Pentagon has noticed. Is Parker just good at tests and OK at the rest?”

“No sir. Jenkins has had the edge in the field tests so far due to experience at his old MOS. Frankly, from what I have seen, Parker will probably over take him in field tests in the second half. I noticed that she steadily improved in everything she has done.”

“That is good. Keep me informed.”

Liz fell into her bunk just about every night exhausted. Her drive to exceed and excel sometimes was a curse. Yet she could honestly say she had never been so challenged and a part of her really liked the fact that she was being stretched. They were doing so many different things like night navigation and the like of which she had never done before; only read about. She had prepared as much as she could but the reality was a lot tougher. 

Nancy had made a special trip to see Liz graduate and receive her commission. Liz had told her just the night before that of the original 160, only 122 had made it. She did not know how high she was in the class but figured she was first in her section that would graduate 34.

Liz checked her uniform carefully. It was her old Class A without the stripes but with all her ribbons. Second Lt Bars would be pinned on her uniform that day.

The top 5 students would be awarded first; then the rest by Alphabetical order. Liz was pretty sure she was in that top 5.

“Our first OCS graduate is the top student in this class. Elizabeth Parker, front and center.”

Liz managed to get through the ceremony without screwing up; the Commanding General of Ft Benning was presenting the certificates.

Nancy was so proud. She took lots of pictures. Liz was the only woman in the top 5; and only 23 women made it through. She noted that Liz also had more decorations or as they called them ribbons than anyone else in the entire class.

Liz was dazed as she accepted the congratulations and fingered the bars that the General had pinned on her. She hugged her mother then was startled to see someone else come up and congratulate her.

“Congressman! I am surprised you are here.”

“I try to make these at least once a year. Was certainly not going to miss this one. Top of the class. I expected no less.”

“Mom, this is the congressman that I knocked over in Iraq.”

“Saved my hide in the process. Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Parker. You are very proud of your daughter; I think it is safe to say.”

“VERY proud sir.”

“Hate to talk business, Lt, but what have you heard as regards the emphasis in the Ammunition Area?”

“So far so good, Sir. The early signs are looking better. If this keeps up in 5 years it might be considered a good thing to be an Ammo Spec.”

“That is good. Congratulations, Lt. Good day, Mrs. Parker.”

The general had stood off a ways watching this. He turned to his aide. “I recognized Parker at the last minute. I see that the Congressman has not forgotten her. Has she received her request; as top of the class she should get it.”

“I will make sure of that sir.”

The congressman came up to the general.

“I saw that the class was about average for graduation size. The low number of women is a concern.”

“Yes sir. We encourage them but the numbers are commensurate with the percentage of women overall in the military.”

“Well, having one graduate at the top of the class is good.”

Liz was lucky in that there was only 2 weeks between the end of OCS and the beginning of the Aviation class at Ft Rucker. Otherwise she would have been left cooling her heels doing scut work. She was able to get there early enough that she was not pulled in for that sort of thing; and could get a jump on the Aviation school curriculum. 

She had as usual researched things; and the SERE part really jumped out at her. She had never camped much or had to make do in that way; so she went on a crash course of learning about how to do that; even going so far as to take what she found out and getting some simple tools and camping out. She was lucky it was still fairly warm as her efforts to build a shelter and make a fire with virtually nothing did not go too well. She spent a week working on it and by the end of it had a better idea about things. She learned how to do simple snares and to recognize edible plants from those that would poison her. Some of the things she had learned at OCS would help.

Liz had thought that OCS was hard; but Aviation school was tougher still in other ways. She had more time off, but needed it to recover. The book parts were fairly easy; it was the field stuff that was tougher. The initial part, called Basic Officers Leadership, was basic in some ways but pretty advanced in others. That was tough sometimes. She was lucky in that they got breaks for the Holidays. That helped. Then came the next part called Dunker training.

Getting wet was not too bad. Being strapped in a seat and then dropped in the water and turning upside down was not fun. Liz did OK, she did not panic and was able to get out without help which was the main thing. What came next was worse.

Liz groaned as she sat, soaking wet, outside the tank. Final Dunker training was basically a mockup of a helicopter, dropped in the water and getting out of it while upside down. Luckily for her she had always been a good swimmer. Unluckily she had been with a couple of candidates that had panicked and pretty much trampled her in their desperate efforts to get out. 

An instructor came up to her.  
“Parker. Are you injured?”

“Don’t think so sir; did get mauled some inside there.”

“Head over to the medics and get checked out STAT.”

Liz was bruised but otherwise OK and lined up with the rest of the group.

“All right that was just about a textbook example of what NOT to do. Everyone but Parker, Jones, Simms, and Johnson go back in for another one. You four did well despite the efforts of your companions. You did not panic and got out of there in one piece.”

That was the worst time. The rest of it was wet and uncomfortable and probably would have scared the crap out of her if not for Iraq.

Then came SERE which was basically how to escape and evade and survive if shot down and in enemy territory. She was lucky; she would not be part of the group required to go through the resistance part meant to help you survive capture and interrogation.

Still it was pretty tough; she was glad she had done some preparatory work. The graduation part was being dropped off alone and expected to make it to a certain spot within 3 days with nothing but her uniform.

Liz was determined to do well as usual; but this was the toughest thing she had ever done. She was cold and wet and hungry and aching all over. March in Alabama was nowhere near as warm as she had hoped it would be. But she gritted it out and made it to the point in time. She knew she had not excelled, but in this case she did not give a damn. She had gotten it done and that is what counted. Luckily everyone was given a week of light duty after that; they all needed that time to heal up and recover.

After that the water survival part was almost a piece of cake. She knew she had done well in that part and her natural optimism had come back.

Next came the first parts of how to lead soldiers and to familiarize oneself with the Basic tenets of Military Law. Liz did well though she had never thought all that much of lawyers. 

The next part, called Aviation Branch Basic Officers course, was when they finally started to do aviation stuff, including the aircraft maintenance process, general aviation doctrine, and US and foreign vehicle and aircraft identification; basic familiarization with US ARMY aviation in particular. That was really interesting and Liz got into that big time.

Then came what was called AEROMED; there they learn how flight affects physiology, toxicology, gravitational forces and other subjects pertaining to flight and the human body. Getting poked and prodded and worked over was not fun and was borderline painful at times. 

Then came the real training on flying. It started out as what was called Initial Entry Rotary Wing Training (IERW).

The first day, Liz was paired up with a Captain Thomas; and got into a TH67, which he explained was what most Police copters were, a Jet Bell Ranger. Liz had seen them before so at least she had some idea. 

“Ever flown in a chopper before?”

“Once when I was medevac’d in Iraq.”

He blinked at that. “Combat?”

“Mortar round landed in the ASP I was at and I caught a piece in my back. It was really not bad enough but they called in the chopper anyway.”

Then he remembered; he thought the name had sounded familiar. Well so far she was doing well. But even good soldiers sometimes made lousy pilots so they would see.

Liz felt really good; this is what she wanted to do. Fly. The Captain took them up and they flew for almost 30 minutes while he explained things. They needed that closed helmet because she had not really believed just how noisy helicopters were. They landed and with the other students a critique was given. This would happen after every flight.

The instructors eased everyone into it; Captain Thomas said that the idea of throwing people in the pool and seeing if they can sink or swim does not work with flying. The aircraft are much too expensive. Bodies they can always get, he said with a bloodthirsty grin that made Liz laugh.

Within a week Liz got her hands on the controls; she was thrilled but managed to maintain control pretty well. Hover training first; and that was a lot harder than one might think. Then moving slowly forwards; then turning slowly; then moving backwards slowly. Everything was done slowly.

One fact that was drilled into them every day was to do a very good and thorough preflight check. Captain Thomas told her that in helicopter accidents, a faulty preflight check was a factor in almost half of them. 

They gradually moved to harder tasks; interspersed with classroom as what was done in the flying was first done in the classroom then the simulator then the actual chopper.

Liz remembered well the day she did everything except land; preflight, take off, fly and then hover while the instructor landed. She could not wait to do it all.

That opportunity came after a rough period when Captain Thomas told her she needed to relax.

The first time she had landed, she had thought she had done well but the instructor told her that she had not done as well as she had thought.

“You got tunnel vision. Concentrating so much on carefully landing you did not register anything else. You need to figure this out. Here are some guides into relaxation and prioritization while flying.”

That was tough for Liz to grasp; concentration and focus had been a part of her life as long as she could remember. She tried meditation and while that helped after it did not help during. Finally she tried visualization and keeping to a process and that worked.

Two weeks later she soloed. She was about one third the way down the class ranks but she was content. The experience was glorious.

Next came instruments and that was a lot tougher. Relying on them instead of what you could see was hard to do. Liz worked through it steadily if not spectacularly. She was finding it hard to get used to not being one of the top students. She was in the top 3rd but that was still a comedown.

Basic Combat skills required them to transition to the UH1; which Liz liked better. It was lighter and easier to control if more sensitive to the controls.

Then they began to work on coordinating artillery strikes; calling it in themselves which meant figuring exactly where the strike was needed and getting that clearly to the ground controller.

Coordinating multiple choppers came next; Liz did better there though she was not sure why. She just did.

Now almost 6 months had gone by; three more months in the IERW. It was getting towards the Holidays again. Liz was a little lonely but had been able to visit the girls at Athens a couple of times. That had been great and helped her relax.

The next part was called Night Vision. They spent several days using them in a blacked out room; getting used to them. Then they started flying at night; just as observers getting used to the idea and the goggles and their limitations.

Liz was nervous the first time she was actually flying using goggles; it was nerve wracking but she gradually got with it. After 4 weeks she was doing what she had done during the day at night, if not so easily or as stress free. Captain Thomas told her that she was progressing well and that helped.

Then the Christmas break came and Liz volunteered to stay at the school with a few on the instructors to get in more practice. Only about a dozen of the class did; most of them that needed more work. Liz was really the only one doing well that stayed and she ended up helping some of the others.

The Chief of the instructors talked to Captain Thomas about Parker.

“How is she doing?”

“She is steadily getting better. She had a rough period early on but forced herself through it; she is quite solid. Not inspired or brilliant; but very strong in all areas. One thing is that she is constantly improving. I think she may be one of those that might not be really great starting out but keeps working at it and eventually does it the hard way. Her staying over is an example of that; and she is good at instructing. I think down the road she would be a good addition to the school.” 

As the Night vision courses resumed after the Christmas Break, Liz found that the extra time and practice came in handy. She gradually became somewhat comfortable flying at night using the goggles.

The next part was truly hair raising; they began to get basic instruction on how to land a damaged chopper. Practicing auto rotation was something more than a thrill; it was terrifying. Once again it was classroom, then simulators, then the real thing. Liz found that while terrifying, she was pretty good at auto rotation. They were taught to not so much listen for trouble as that was pretty hard to so with the hearing protection and helmets on, but more of a feel, vibrations and the like. And told that while they should rely on the readouts of their instruments that sometimes they would lie and you had to double check as best you can.

After scaring the students with the work on emergencies, the next was less terrifying but more mentally stressful as they started to work on becoming units. They were organized into platoons with rotating commanders. Heavy use was made of simulators tied together called the Symnet.

There was a gap between classes that happened to coincide with Labor Day and the class was given a couple of extra days. Liz took advantage and headed over to Athens to visit her friends. Maria, Tess and Isabelle were just starting their second year at Georgia and had gotten an apartment together. Liz had a blast letting her hair down and partying. 

After getting plastered that Saturday night, Liz shuffled down to the kitchen and made coffee. Maria was soon with her, both slowly surfacing from their hangovers.

“So, Chica, how goes the rotorhead business?”

“Getting there, slowly. It’s tough for me not being at the head of the class; I am only in the top 3rd so far.”

Maria giggled, then regretted that. “Ouch. Don’t make me laugh. Liz, it’s OK not to be first, you know.”

“I guess. Tough lesson for me to learn. But I am getting there. Flying is great; it’s very definitely what I want to do. I have only just less than 4 months to go.”

“Decided which one to go for?”

“I like the idea of the Kiowa; small and quick.”

“Gee, I wonder why.”

Glaring at her friend, Liz went on. “But I think I am going to fall in love with the Master Nasty.”

“What is that?”

“What I call the Apache.”

“OOOhhh. You like BIG guns.”

“Ya.”

Maria was pensive. Liz looked at her friend. “What?”

“Dating anyone?”

“When would I have time?”

“No excuse.”

Liz sighed. “I guess I am afraid to start; anyone I meet now I am going to be leaving. No one in my class really revs my engine.”

“Well at least maybe you are thinking about it.”

“Yeah. I would like to.”

“Well I guess that is progress.”

“How about you?”

Maria ducked her head and Liz’s eyes got huge. She squealed and they both held their heads in pain.

“Ugh Liz.”

“Sorry but SPILL.”

“His name is Michael and he is an artist but looks nothing like one.”

“Details.”

“Rough looking. Old style Marlon Brando.”

“OOOHHHH.”

“Yeah.”

Tess and Isabelle slowly made their way in and went for the coffee.

“So how about the two walking zombies?”

Tess and Isabelle fried her with a look.

“Tess is seeing a guy who is in criminology-cop family. Kyle. Iz is seeing a computer geek named Alex.”

“Computer geek?”

“Alex is much more than a computer geek” Isabelle proclaimed loftily.

“Wow. Sounds like everyone is getting some except me.”

“Told you being a nun is no fun.”

Tess looked at her friend. “Liz, really, you have got to get out there before you officially become a spinster.”

“Yeah a spinster who loves big guns.”

Isabelle and Tess both blinked.

“Liz is going to be an Apache driver.”

“OOOHHHH. Big guns.”

“Ya.”

Liz smiled as she remembered the weekend as she sat waiting for the class to begin. They were back into working as platoons in constantly rotating groups. She was definitely doing better; she was more and more comfortable running a group. She had quietly put in her bid for the Apache; and for the 101st Aviation brigade at Ft Campbell, Kentucky. They had been told they would get their assignment soon.

Captain Thomas was lead instructor this day and called the class to order in the lecture hall.  
“All right first off everyone got their first choice as regards type. That usually happens but congratulations anyway. Here are you post assignments. I will call out your name and come and get it.”

Liz tore open her envelope and read the contents. She smiled. She got what she wanted.

4 weeks later she got her first ride in an Apache. IT was love at first sight. She had never even seen one up close until coming to Rucker. Now she had and she wanted one.

An Apache was pure nasty; it was meant to blow things up and take punishment. It was the chopper version of the A-10. The Pilot sat in the second position behind the copilot who normally was the main gunner. But all weapons could be fired from both seats. It had a tricycle landing gear, which was different than most helicopters. All in all it was a very different type of chopper.

And it had serious bite. A 30 MM chain gun in the chin; two pods carrying 2.75” rockets and the stubby wings could also handle 4 Hellfire missiles each. Just in case the tip pylons could each hold a Stinger or even a Sidewinder.

The versions they would be flying were unarmed of course; but had been configured so that the pylons and everything else were there and loaded with weight so that the training models would act exactly as the real thing loaded for war would.

The class had been broken up so that each class now was concentrated with the various different types of chopper. Liz and 21 other students would now spend all their time learning about the Apache. She was glad she would still be working with Captain Thomas; she was very comfortable learning from him.

It was a very sophisticated aircraft for a Helicopter; rumor had it the only birds that were more so were the special operations versions that had all sorts of rumored goodies. Its electronics rivaled the newest fighters; the bird itself was finely put together. The Apache had been in service coming onto 20 years so the bugs had been mostly worked out. Early on there had been some trouble with the radios; it was finally figured out that some of the electronic systems conflicted with the radios. They had been built by different companies and no one had thought to test them out together. So when they were put in the Apache and she started to operate, the troubles puzzled everyone for years. But that had been sorted out. They had had an impressive record in war.

Any helicopter is much more susceptible to battle damage than just about any airplane. The rotors were very vulnerable; and the engines were huge heat producers that meant any heat seeking missile had great targets. You could not armor a helicopter like you could an A-10. During the initial battles in the Iraq war, over a battalion of Apache’s had flown into a flak trap that had shot one down and had damaged 30 others in the most notorious action yet. But people forget that with what was shot at them the enemy still only knocked one down and all but a few were easily reparable. The Apache’s had historically dealt out hundreds of hits for every one they took.

The first time Liz was at the controls of an Apache she was in the copilot seat; as was procedure. It was very different then the pilot seat. Depending on the manning situation where she went, Liz might be a copilot before a Pilot slot opened up; which might take several months. So getting to know what it was like in the front seat was a good idea anyway. Liz loved the power of the ship; even fully loaded she had plenty extra. It was very maneuverable if not as much so as the UH1. But then it was a lot bigger and heavier as well.

One not so fun thing about the Apache was the long preflight check list. Which was not surprising considering the complexity of the helicopter. Liz was glad they would get 12 full weeks to get used to it. She figured she would need every one.

Being a pilot meant having check sheets and log books and all sorts of records; which was normal for Liz anyway. Your pockets were always full and you never went anywhere without a notebook. It was very complicated but very ordered and organized and as always Liz felt comfortable in that.

Four weeks after her first flight, Liz did her solo. And from that time on she flew in the pilot seat and the Instructor flew in the copilot seat. The next 8 weeks Liz truly loved it. She was home and she knew it; she was an Apache Driver and that was where she belonged.

The last two weeks the Apache students were allowed to start firing the weapons of the armed birds available. The first time Liz fired the 2.75’s she was gassed; she was very good at putting 30MM on target and she did miss a single shot with the hellfire’s.

The instructors were working on their final reports and recommendations; class placement was not truly a great deal. Just that everyone wanted to make sure that no mistakes were made.

The Chief Instructor went over each student one by one.  
“Parker.”

“As I put in my preliminary, she constantly works at improving her skills. She takes every spare minute to do more and it shows. She has progressed to the point that she is close to being the best Apache candidate we have. She is extra good at placing munitions on target. She was the only one that never missed with a hellfire and no one did any better with the rockets or the gun. Her scores in the simulators are very close to what she does in the bird itself; that is rare. All indications are that she keeps a cool head in high stress situations. I cannot really find anything that I can ding her on. Outside of maybe needing a telephone book to sit on.”

The Chief instructor had to laugh at that. It was interesting seeing the tiny pilot in the apache cockpit. “One could consider her small size an advantage; less of a target to hit and that lower weight is not something to sneeze at. A couple of the other pilots outweigh her by 100 lbs. That counts.”

“Yes it does. I have no problem signing her off with no reservations or restrictions.”

They were lucky in that the graduation Ceremony would be on Dec 18. Just in time for everyone to head off for Christmas. As luck would have it the girls would be able to make it, Christmas break starting day before. Nancy had flown in. Liz would fly back with her and stay for two weeks before heading back to report to Ft Campbell, Kentucky.

Liz ended up being ranked 14th out of a class of 91, but more to the point she was 2nd among the Apache candidates. She had made up a lot of ground in the last three months. She was content with her lot.

Once again Nancy took lots of pictures; very proud once again that her daughter clearly had more decorations than any other student. Liz would get her promotion to 1st Lt upon arrival at Ft Campbell. Nancy had been looking around for the last several years for another job and had found one; she would be telling Liz that she was now a State Employee of Ohio. Specifically Columbus, working in the State Department of Transportation as a Personnel officer. It was good money and she would be able to bring her 23 years with her to Ohio. Which meant she only had to work 15 more to retire. And it was less than 400 miles to Ft Campbell.

Liz was happy the graduation ceremony was over and she could be with her mother and her friends. They had a good time over dinner before they all headed off to visit their families for Christmas Break. Liz and Nancy would stay at a motel before flying out the next day back to Wyoming.

Liz looked at her mother; something was up.  
“OK, mom, Spill. Something is up.”

Nancy smiled. “I got another job. With the state of Ohio as a personnel officer with the Department of Transportation. Columbus Ohio. Which is only 400 miles from Ft Campbell.”

“Mom that is great! We will be able to see each other more.”

“Already have the house up for sale and hope to have it sold in a month. My job starts in February.”

“I will see if I can get some leave and help you.”

“That would be nice but I can do it.”

“I want to. Well I can at least clean my room out.”

“Are you going for Base Housing?”

“Yes. I should get it.”

“With all the money you have saved over the years, by the time you want to buy a house you might be able to pay cash.”

“Well not quite. And I want to save a fair amount for other things. One of which is I am going to take more vacations now. “

“That is good to hear; I always have thought you need to do more of that.”

“Well I intend to. And I am going to start examining the local male population and start hunting.”

“Finally.”

“Mom.”

“Liz, you are about to be 24 and you have not dated at all since you were in High School, and not much there.”

“Well I now know what I want to do and have gotten most of the work out of the way.”

“You really love flying?”

“It’s what I have been looking for.”

“That reminds me. Don’t you have to take college courses?”

“Winning the DSC took care of that. Now as regards promotions beyond flying, yeah I will need to do that. But I am more thinking that I will try and get my 20 in, then go for civil aviation. As long as I can fly I will be happy. From what Captain Thomas said, he was my instructor, I can probably make it to major before the lack of higher education stops me. That gives me at least 8 years. And lots of flying experience. So even if I get the heave ho at that point, I should have no problem getting a good job.”

Nancy took in the relaxed and confident manner Liz was showing; she seemed very content. Which was all she wanted for her daughter. 

Liz was able to gather everything she wanted from the house and send it to Ft Campbell. She actually had very little besides clothes. Nancy was fortunate and got a good offer within days and accepted it. They started to pack up and got most of it done before Liz left to head to Ft Campbell. She would fly to Rucker where she had left her car and then drive there. She realized that she had more books, references, notebooks and the like then she actually had civilian clothes. The back seat and trunk of her small car were full of that.

Ft Campbell, Kentucky straddled the border with Tennessee, at the far western part of the state, not far from Illinois. Hilly and wooded; an hour’s drive from Nashville. Liz loved the look of the area; she had become addicted to green and trees. There were lakes and good sized rivers around. It was a little cooler than Rucker had been; and about as wet.


	5. Hard Core Liz

Liz checked in on Jan 5, 2007. She reported to the 101st Aviation Brigade HQ. The Brigade had just returned and personnel were changing out. The Battalion CO was in and greeted her.

“Lt Parker. Glad to have you aboard. You picked a good time to show up; lots of work needs to be done.”

“Yes sir. It looks like you are having a fairly heavy personnel turnover here.”

“Always do right after a deployment. You will probably get a bird right off; but flying will not come soon. We have some here for training but our operational ships will not be ready for a month at least.”

“Understood sir.”

Liz was put to work getting her own paperwork done and starting up. It was very busy. She was put in A Company of the first battalion. 1st Platoon. Each platoon had 4 Apache’s; 2 platoons to a company; 3 companies to a battalion. Her platoon commander was a 1st Lt like her, James Winston. The other two were WO’s, Ken Simpson and Jake Logan. The copilots were all WO’s. She was lucky in that the two warrants had just made Pilot; so she was not so much the newbie as she had thought she could be. She had yet to meet her Copilot, who was also new as was two other copilots. So of the 8 pilots and copilots in A Company (known as Spectres), herself and 3 WO’s were new to the unit. But she was the only recent graduate of the School. All the copilots were relatively new; most having graduated in the last year. The Platoon commander was the only real veteran, she found out. He had been there for almost 3 years and would probably be transferred out in the next year. It did not take a rocket scientist for Liz to realize that she was thus being slotted to take command of the platoon in the not so far off future. The other platoon was much the same; Captain ED Griffith, was also the company commander. It was interesting as that platoon also had two officers like hers did. All the rest were WO’s.

The first few days was meet and greet and get to know each other. Liz would always smile when she remembered meeting her copilot, WO2 Ted Dugan. It was the third day, early in the morning. Her quarters were comfortable; she was not sure if she would stay in BOQ or find something outside. She had just got into the HQ when Griffith called to her.

“Parker, here is your copilot. Ted Dugan, Liz Parker. You two spend some time getting to know each other. There will not be any flying for at least a few weeks while they are working on your bird. We have some new Pilots that need time in the trainers; Parker since you just got out of school you are last in line.”

Liz looked up to Ted. And up. He was about 6’2” at least. He grinned at her.  
“Gonna need a phone book?”

“How is the weather up there?”

ED Winston watched this and smiled; they would be fine. He had not served with a female officer yet in the same platoon. But her record certainly was not skimpy even if she was a new pilot. But flying an Apache in combat was very different. She had done well at the school; 2nd in her class in Apache’s. She was tiny though. But that was not a bad thing in the pilot seat of an Apache.

Liz and Ted got on like a house on fire. He treated her as his older sister and she treated him as a younger brother. He had transferred in from the 1st ID Aviation Brigade when they had too many. He had come out of Rucker in the class just before Liz’s. Like her, he had not flown all that much. He had come to the 101st in hope of getting more flying time. And it looked like he had come to the right place. 

Liz met her crew chief the next day, and the rest of the crew the day after. Her Chief was a somewhat grizzled Sarge named Gunt. Everyone called him Grunt. She had smiled at him.  
“Sarge, is this a good bird?”

“It’s pretty new; did well over there. Has fewer problems because my birds ALWAYS have fewer problems as long as you pilots don’t screw up.”

“Sounds like a deal, Sarge.” 

Liz found that she felt right at home with the people there in the Aviation Brigade. Here excellence was expected and demanded. Big change from working the ASP. Everyone knew her story and she had gotten some questions about that convoy and what had REALLY happened. At lunch the first week Ted asked.

“So, Liz, what was the REAL story about that convoy?”

Liz sort of smiled. “What did you hear?”

“Well, not long after it happened the word seemed to be that the LT was a total asshole and just about delivered that convoy on a platter to the bad guys. You got creative and managed to pull everyone out.”

“That is about it. He was a total Asshole. Damn near got us all killed. No one talks about the Sergeant he took with him. From what I was able to find out he was a pretty good guy. I wrote a letter to his parents later on, telling them that he had nothing to do with the screw-up and was just in the wrong place with the wrong idiot at the wrong time.”

Ted blinked. “That was stand up to do.”

“Everyone around there told me the LT was a joke and the sergeant was always trying to salvage the situation. That time there was no way he could. Just goes to show you what happens when you have a Moron in command. I WANTED the family to know that if anyone tried to place any blame on him they were full of crap. They wrote me back a while ago telling me thank you, and they indeed had had some who were commenting that he had something to do with that clusterfuck.”

Unbeknown to Liz, right in hearing range was one of her crewmen. He quietly filled in the Sarge about that later.

Grunt was an old time soldier; never really liked having women in the military let alone combat. But he had a few more years before retirement and knew he had to put up with them. Parker seemed nice enough; and competent enough. But what the crewman had told him made a difference. She was starting to move into the area of acceptance, past just someone to put up with.

The first few weeks dragged a little, until the choppers were done being refurbed. Then Liz got to fly and she loved it. Flying an Apache was complicated; but there were procedures to handle it and that always came easy for Liz. The actual stick time was what she lived for. She flew every moment she could; fired as much ammo as she could. And she was very good at that.

“Well, Parker sure does know how to shoot.”

“Yeah. Top shot by a couple of points.”

“How is she otherwise?”

“Well it’s no surprise that she is very organized. But she also seems to be able to improvise and react well to sudden situations. I really cannot fault her on much of anything; she is green of course but she is scrounging every flight minute she can get. And Ted let me know that she really makes it a point to let him do as much as possible as well. She loves to shoot but lets him take most of the shots. Fact is she is a fair amount better. They get in serious combat she should be the one taking the shot; he is good enough with the stick to take care of that end. Not saying he is really bad but she is a lot better.”

“How are her evals on him?”

“Say he is solid; needs to improve his shooting. But that is the only real gig she has on him. I have seen nothing to show that she is giving him an easy time or hard time. Just watching she seems like a natural instructor. She has Grunt on her side as well.”

“Well no wonder.”

“Word I got is that he was going that way even before she stood up for him.”

The incident had happened a week earlier. Grunt had gone to supply and gotten some replacement ignition cartridges and when opening the box found them short. He had gone back and the supply sergeant claimed it was Grunt’s mess up. As his Pilot, Liz had gotten the call when the Lt at the supply room called up to complain about her sergeant. Liz had gone right down there and laid into them. Demanded to see the magazine data cards. And the issue record. And the MDC had shown the count was off but the supply sergeant on taking them out of the ASP had screwed up. Liz’s background as an 89B had come in handy. From that point on Grunt was definitely in her corner.

“The word is that the head of the ASP ordered a special inventory and found a whole bunch of mistakes.”

“Yeah. Matter of fact there was some talk they wanted to grab Liz to be an observer on that since she had been an 89B. I managed to stamp on that with help from Brigade. The Ordnance Company is short of good 89B’s and he was afraid they would go to the division commander and grab Liz and transfer her.”

“I doubt that would have happened.”

“I don’t know; the army has really tightened up there over the last couple of years. You know the word is, I got this from the G-4, is that Parker is one of the reasons behind the push for more 89B’s and making them more important.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. That congressman she saved was the one that put the SECDEF on the spot about the Ammunition specialists at a congressional hearing. He had visited the Stewart ASP the week before and talked to Parker then.”

“If they had transferred her, I wonder if she would have dropped a dime to the Congressman?”

“I do not see her doing that. But I would not be surprised if one of her friends did.”

“True. She seems to make friends easily.”

“Well she is a nice girl and just seems like everyone’s idea of a great kid sister.” 

Liz still heard from Sgt Axton who had transferred to Ft Carson. The new emphasis on Ammunition had so far been maintained and he remarked that he was seeing signs it was sinking in. The ASP there had gotten new equipment and other funding increases.

Meanwhile the Division Commander of the 101st was talking to his G4.  
“Do you think this info is accurate?”

“Sir, something like this happened at Bragg two years ago. Spec Ops is Spec Ops; sometimes the attitude of we can do whatever we want gets out of hand.”

“Technically this is not my responsibility.”

“True sir. It is on Ft Campbell and therefore is more the Installation Commanders area since Spec Ops is a tenant organization.”

“He is not liable to do anything?”

“Sir, he is about to retire and does not want the hassle.”

“Your information is pretty specific.”

“Yes sir. From people outside of Spec Ops who have been in their ASP.”

“Have you talked to our QASAS?”

“Yes sir. They have a hunch that the info is correct; but there are only two of them and they are very busy. There really should be a third QASAS just to keep an eye on them.”

“That has been pushed but shot down at higher HQ. The Berets apparently got offended at the suggestion and the brass showed yellow.”

“What about me having a quiet conversation with General Brown?”

“That might be the best way to go. Pressure from their HQ would get things done a lot faster.”

“How did that special inventory go?”

“Uncovered a pile of mistakes that should have been caught. Problem is that while the Army has started to wake up to the Ammunition Specialties importance, there is still a lot of dead wood and the new classes of 89B’s are just now hitting the Ordnance companies and they are GREEN. Our officers are not ordnance or ammo; and the senior sergeants are not either. The QASAS is working with them but one just got deployed and the other will have all he can do with the day to day work. The LAR is on sick leave and will probably retire. There just is not anyone with experience enough to really help down there.”

“We need help. Where do we get it?”

“Well sir, we do have an officer here on post that is a former 89B. Now in aviation as an Apache Driver.”

“Parker.”

“Yes sir.”

“Will her tame congressman scream if we pull her out of her Apache?”

“If we make it short term it should be OK. Just a month should do it; the new QASAS will be here by then and I made sure the Career Office sent us an experienced and good one. Parker can get it started and straightened out.”

“OK. Call her and the aviation brigade commander in.”

Liz wondered what was up; as far as she knew she had not screwed up anything. Why did the Brigade Commander want to see her?

Griffith was in the dark as well; he had gotten a call from the Brigade Commander that the Division commander wanted him and Lt Parker in his office in an hour. He had looked at Liz.  
“You do anything?”

“Nothing I can think of.”

“Watch your six.”

Liz walked into the Brigade Commanders office; he motioned her to follow into his vehicle.  
“Lt, do you have any idea what is going on?”

“None sir. I know I have not done anything that would have the Division commander after me and he would not do it personally anyway.”

“True. Well I guess we will find out quick enough.”

Liz was racking her brain when something niggled at her. The Colonel saw this.  
“What?”

“A little more than a week ago I had to back up my crew chief over a discrepancy on impulse cartridges as regards to a faulty count. I demanded we go into the Mag and check the magazine data cards. It was screwed up. I know they did a special inventory and found a lot of problems. From what I could see in that one magazine there could be more.”

“That is right; you were an 89B. They might want to do a full wall to wall inventory and have you be part of it. I know there was talk of trying to pull you in when they did the special but I raised hell about it. That sounds like they found more problems than just inventory.”

They got to division HQ where they were showed right into the Commanders office and in there were the commander and the Division G4.

“Colonel, LT, I will get right down to it. Our ASP is screwed up bad. And because of a variety of reasons there is no one to be had to fix it. Therefore I am detaching Lt Parker from Aviation and giving her TDY to the Ordnance Company as acting Commander. A new one is on his way but things need to be done NOW. This should be only for a month or so.”

The colonel sighed and looked at Liz. She looked at him then at the General.  
“Yes Sir.”

The general nodded. “The sustainment brigade Commander will take you down there. You are given full authority to do whatever it takes. Chop any rotten wood. I have gotten on the horn to the QASAS Career office and a new veteran QASAS will be here in one month. He will advise the new CO that is coming in. But I want you to get the heavy lifting done ASAP.”

Liz and the Sustainment Brigade commander only had a little while to talk. He was blunt.  
“LT, you do what you have to. You will have full support all the way up the ladder and if anyone gives you any backtalk I want to know about it right then. That company has to be shocked into competence.”

“Yes Sir. Sir I have my materials from when I was at Stewart in my Quarters. I will need that ASAP.”

“Let’s stop by and get that now. You will have a driver and a vehicle at your disposal.”

The Brigade Commander walked into the office and the people there shot to their feet. He waved them down and headed to the Commanders office. Liz waited in the main room, well aware of all the eyes that were on her. She maintained a blank expression; all the while going through her mind what to do and what order it would come in. And how to do it. She realized she would have to come in hard and mean.

The Brigade Commander came out and looked around.  
“I want every soldier in the Ordnance Company here immediately.”

Those in the office area started to scramble. Liz slipped out and got all her materials and was barely able to carry it all in.

In half an hour the entire ordnance company was assembled in the only room big enough; the break room at the Ordnance HQ. Even then it was a tight fit.

“Effective Immediately Captain Jackson has been relieved for cause. Lt Parker is now acting Commander. I will be blunt: this unit is a mess and she will be starting the cleanup. She has backup all the way to the Division Commander to do whatever she thinks she needs to. That is all.” He then left the building and Liz walked up and stood in front of them.

“I want all sergeants and officers in my office now.”

She was glad to see that the previous occupant was already gone. She walked in and sat behind the desk while the two other officers and 4 sergeants came in. They remained standing until she inclined her head and they sat.

“I know how a good Ordnance Company is run because I was part of one at Ft Stewart a little over two years ago. You are all aware of the new climate as regards Ammunition specialists and Ammunition in general. That is why this action was taken in this manner.” She calmly looked at them.  
“Officers first by seniority, then sergeants alike. I want to know your responsibility and experience level in ammunition. Be brief. I will then ask each of you some questions.”

Liz waited till they left the room before forcing herself to relax. The two officers were typical ordnance officers; transferred there because they had screwed up elsewhere. The sergeants were not bad; they looked salvageable. Problem was they were not 89Bs. All the 89Bs were still E3 and E4. She took out the personnel files on them and saw that they looked ok. The LTs files showed what she expected. She called the Brigade commander.

“I just got back to my office, Lt. Just how bad is it?”

“The two officers have to go NOW. Typical screw-ups hidden in ordnance. The Sergeants are salvageable; the 89Bs I think are good enough just too green and too junior to do much. I need replacements for those LTs. Does not matter where they come from as long as they are good.”

“You will have two new ones by Tomorrow.”

Liz got off the phone and went outside – she noticed the officers were not in sight but just about everyone else was still there. They watched her like birds watching a hungry snake.  
“89Bs. In My office now.” She looked at two supply techs. “Those documents on that table. Start making copies. I want a dozen ASAP.” 

She looked at the 89Bs then started peppering them with questions- she took almost an hour. Then she let them go. One of the supply techs poked her head in the door.  
“Sir, we have those copies.”

“Good work.”

She looked at the clock. It was almost noon. She went out the door. They were still all there.  
“OK people I have to sort things out. Get outta here and eat. Be back at 1300 ready to start working. We might be here late tonight.”

Liz went back into the office and started to make notes. Her phone rang.

“Ordnance, Parker Speaking.”

“Liz. What is the scoop- all the Brigade commander told us was that you were TDY and nothing else.” If was Griffith.

“The ordnance company is hosed and I will be spending the next month starting the cleanup. Tell Ted to have fun flying.”

“OK. If you need cover fire let us know.”

“Might take you up on that. I am not going to be starting any cars or walking alone anytime soon.”

At the other end Griffith blinked. This was a Liz that sounded deadly serious. Just how bad was it?

Liz made some notes; then sat back and deliberately relaxed and closed her eyes. She decided that she had to go on as she had started.

At 1300 everyone was back and Liz began.

“These documents will be your bible from this point on. Any deviation from them will be scrutinized very closely. If you are wrong my foot will be up your ass. There is no leeway here. Let me make that clear. You will all spend the next hour going over this. Meanwhile I want to see all the SOPs that have anything to do with ammunition.”

Liz sighed as she looked at the last of the SOPs. None were out of date but they were all virtually worthless. Luckily she had kept copies of the ones she had had at Ft Stewart. She went out into the main room.  
“OK. Here are SOPs from Ft Stewart that I used. You will take the current SOPs and replace them with these, making the necessary changes as regards Building numbers, phone numbers and the like. This will be done By Friday. Since this is Tuesday afternoon you will be working hard and long. I will assign the SOPs. Now- what issues are due out in the next few days?”

The supply tech that had told her the docs had been done came forward with some 1348-1’s in her hand. Liz looked at her.  
“What is your name?”

“Supply Tech Ava Jamison.”

“OK, Ava. From now on you are the senior supply tech and you will inform me first thing each morning what is due to go out. I will be the only one signing 1348-1’s for the immediate future.”

“Yes sir.”

Liz took the 1348’s back to her office after she had assigned the SOPs to various people to do. The senior sergeant poked his head in a while later.  
“Sir, the two LTs have been reassigned.”

“Make sure their offices are cleaned out tonight. There will be new officers here tomorrow.”

The Sergeant blinked and nodded. “Yes sir.”

He went out into the area where everyone was frantically going over the SOP’s. He sat next to one of the other sergeants.  
“She rolled both of them already.”

Everyone within hearing distance started working faster.

At 1900 that evening Liz came out of her office and looked at everyone.  
“We have done all we can today. Get some sleep tonight; we will have another long day tomorrow. I want everyone here at 0600.”

Liz personally locked the HQ building. She went out to find her driver waiting.  
“Name?”

“Johnson, sir.”

“Take me to my quarters; Pick me up at O500 tomorrow morning. You will stay at the Ordnance HQ – I will be moving around more tomorrow.”

“Yes sir.”

Liz kept snacks in her room at the BOQ. Luckily by chance she had a couple of MRE’s there. She showered and ate them then fell into bed at 2100. She was up at 0430 and ready to go by 0500. The Mess hall did not open up until 0530 but one of the fast food places opened up then and they went there and got something for breakfast. She then unlocked the Building and went in and turned on the lights. She looked at him.  
“Stick close. I will be moving a lot today.”

Everyone was in by 0600. Including two new Lts. She motioned them in to her office. And closed the door.  
“What have you been told; and then give me a brief of your experience in the military.”

0630 she took them out of her office and introduced them to the rest of the Company. Then she told them to see to it that the two LTs read every single SOP that day.

After that she paused.  
“We have some issues to make today. I will be doing them personally until I approve someone else to. Everyone but one 89B and a supply tech will stay in here working on SOPs.” She then called in the 89B she selected into her office.  
“Here is the 1348. Tell me what you will do with it.”  
His answers were acceptable and they went out into the area to pick up the supply tech and go out to the ASP.

The SOPs were indeed done by Friday Morning. She called up the Brigade commander.  
“I have all new SOP’s ready to be signed off.”

“Have them brought to me; I will have my XO working them. How is it going?”

“Sir, for a while yesterday I got a slight glimpse at what Travis thought when Santa Anna showed up. But it’s getting better. The two new LTs are good; I think they will work out. I spent the last two days either doing necessary issues or working the SOPs. I am going to go through the magazines of the ASP one by one this weekend. I will be working everyone 12 hrs at least a day until further notice.”

“As long as progress is made there will be no questions, Lt.”

“Thank you sir.”

Sunday afternoon they closed the last magazine. There had been a fair amount of problems. The QASAS had come by on Saturday and told her that so far as he was concerned she was doing fine. He had already gone over the SOPs and had signed off; the Brigade XO had told her that by Monday they would all be approved.

They worked the rest of the week 0600 to 1800 each day. Then Friday she gathered everyone at 1700.   
“People we have made a fair amount of progress. Get outta here but be back by 0600 Monday.”  
If she had shouted raid in a cathouse the room could not have cleared faster.

She walked out and nodded to her driver. He took her to her quarters. She got into civilian duds and left the base to eat a quiet dinner on the town. Then went back to her quarters and slept like the dead until the next morning. She spent that day and Sunday deliberately not thinking about things; she called up Maria and the girls and talked for hours, not mentioning what was going on. Sunday she called her mother for a long talk. She did tell her mother that she was busy cleaning up someone else’s mess.

Meanwhile back at the Aviation brigade the rumors were trickling in from the rest of the division.  
“I heard she had two Lts relieved and tossed off the installation right after the Brigade commander did the same to the Company commander.”

“I heard she ripped everyone a brand new one.”

“The blood was knee deep.”

“They had to bring in a box of air fresheners as half the company shit their pants.”

Griffith and Winston listened to this and shook their heads. They went into Griffiths office and shut the door. Winston looked at him.  
“How bad is it?”

“She came in like Genghis Khan, is the word I got. Took no prisoners. Rolled the two Lts in an hour. She had replacements the first thing next morning. Worked their asses off 11 straight days. Then gave them the weekend off. Have not heard so far this week but it is only Monday morning.”

“Anyone questioning if she can do the hard things won’t anymore.”

“That might have been the only question I had about her; was she tough enough and mean enough to act like that in a situation that required it? That has been rather decisively answered in the affirmative.” 

The next week Liz began to ease off as serious progress was made. The attitude of the Ordnance Company began to move back from the terrified mode to the alert and watchful mode. They spent the next week cleaning up the magazines; the QASAS made time to come down and go over things. He was very happy with what she had done.

The Division commander looked at his G4.  
“General Brown is going to do a surprise inspection of the Spec Ops Field ASP tomorrow. He will fly in with no notice and be at their gate. He is bringing with him an IG inspector, a CID man and a senior QASAS.”

“Good.”

“Sir?”

Liz looked up from the never ending paperwork at her new XO, Lt James.  
“Yes?”

“Just got word that General Brown has arrived at the Field ASP for the Spec Ops with an inspection team. A no notice inspection.” 

Liz blinked. “Maybe they had it worse than we did?” 

“If we see any bodies hanging on the lamp posts at the main gate I guess we will know.”

Liz smiled, slightly. “That is my rep?”

“Yes Ma’am.”

“I can accept that. Keep your ears open.”

“Yes Ma’am.”

“General Davidson, while this is technically not your concern, I wanted to let you know.”

“I take it that it was bad, General Brown?”

“Worse than your info had it. I have relieved everyone above the rank of sergeant there. I have informed Colonel Wilson. He has just accelerated his retirement to clear the way for a new installation commander. I am talking to FORSCOM now for someone to get here quickly. In the meantime, I have recommended to them that your Sustainment Brigade Commander, who was an installation commander at Ft Bragg a few years ago, be made temporary installation commander. Right now the Spec Ops Field ASP will be closed. Pending a full investigation. So any ammunition that will be issued for Spec Ops will come from the regular ASP. The QASAS here is going over the special ammunition records to see what is useable. But that will take a while. I have been informed that you shook up your ordnance company?”

“Yes sir. Two weeks ago. They have made significant progress under their acting CO.”

General Brown nodded. “I think a meeting with that Co and your Sustainment Brigade Commander is in order.”

“Yes sir.”

Liz had her driver take her to Division HQ. She had gotten a call to get there ASAP. She left Lt James in charge and moved.

She was told to go into the conference room. She found a 3 star and the Division Commander and what looked like a civilian and a CID and an IG officer. As well as the Sustainment Brigade Commander. She stopped and threw a rigid salute to the 3 star.  
He returned it sharply. “At ease Lt.” Then motioned her to a seat between the Division commander and the sustainment commander. When she sat down the General began.

“I am General Brown. The results of a no notice inspection on the Special Operations command Field ASP by myself and this team (introducing them) resulted in the relief for cause of most of the leadership there. Pending a full inspection, investigation and inventory, the ASP will be closed until further notice. So any ammunition issue to Special Operations personnel will now have to come from the Division ASP. Lt Parker, I have already signed emergency authorization for you to issue for Special Operations. But only you. This authority cannot be delegated. Is that clear?”

“Yes sir.”

“I have been informed that you have been cleaning up the Ordnance Company. Well you will now be cleaning up the Spec Ops ordnance detachment as well. You will start training up the remaining personnel alongside your own. They will be temporarily assigned to your ordnance company. If you believe they are not competent, then relieve them. You have full authority. Is that clear?”

“Yes sir.”

“They will report to your HQ at 0600 tomorrow. Make use of them as you see fit.”

“Yes sir.”

The remaining members of the Spec Ops ordnance detachment were gathered that night at one of their quarters. They were still shaken up.  
“I heard this Parker is about the size of a Chihuahua but has six inch claws and eight inch fangs and laughs as she cuts you and bleeds you.”

“She gutted the Ordnance Company in one hour. Worked their asses off for 11 straight days before she gave them a break. Scared the shit out of them.”

“I heard those Iraqi’s she killed were begging for mercy at the end.”

“I talked to a guy that was there. He said she ordered them to let some wounded ones lay there and scream to intimidate the others. Then offed them herself when she wanted some peace and quiet.” 

Liz sat in her quarters. She wondered what could possibly come next. Still she girded herself up for the next morning.

Liz as usual got there early and opened up. To her surprise not 15 minutes later the Spec Ops people showed up. Well this was a good sign, she hoped.

“I am glad you are here early before the rest arrive. I want to make this very clear. General Brown personally gave me the authority to relieve any of you that I felt were not up to the task. I will do so if you give me reason. I will cut your professional throat without hesitation. BUT if you do a good job and show that the reason the Spec Ops ASP was a fucking piece of shit was not your doing, then you will get fair treatment from me. I already have read your personnel files. You will be working with me today and the next week at least so I can evaluate all of you.” 

Liz was relieved when she was able to determine that the remaining members of the Spec Ops ASP were not incompetent or stupid. They had just been badly led. By Friday she called the acting Installation CO.

“Lt Parker, I would appreciate some good news.”

“I have some, sir. The remaining Spec Ops ASP personnel were not the problem. Give them the proper training and leadership they will do fine.”

“That is good. The investigation just completed and there will be dereliction of duty charges and negligence charges against those already relieved. All those concerned have already resigned from the Army; or will be terminated with a general discharge. The QASAS has been reinforced by two TDY QASAS and they will be inspecting all the ammunition in the Spec Ops ASP. That should take about one week. They will need some of your people to move ammo. Until they are done none of it will be issued and you will issue what is needed to Spec Ops from the Divisional ASP. New leadership will be arriving in two weeks from Ft Bragg. I will expect you to brief them in, and also to make sure they know what they are doing. General Brown has full confidence in your judgment. If they are not up to the job, inform me immediately.”

“Yes sir.” Will this nightmare ever end, Liz thought.

That Saturday night Liz was woken up at 1AM by her phone.  
“Parker.”

“LT Parker I understand that you are now issuing for Special Operations until further notice?” 

“Who is this?”

“Cannot give you my name Ma’am. Delta.”

That woke Liz all the way up. “I will be at the ASP in 20 minutes. I will need confirmation from higher HQ.”

“Understood. You will have it.”

Liz chewed her lip for a minute while she got dressed. She had gotten herself rated on a Forklift; she could do it all if she had to. If this was indeed Delta Force then as few as possible needed to be there. She called the Guard Shack and alerted them. The stopped by the office for a full planograph and picked up all the keys to the ASP; technically it was a security violation but Black Ops had a quiet back door on things like that and no one was going to squawk. She took her official vehicle which she had kept and had sent Johnson back to his quarters. She drove up to the ASP and found two black vans waiting. There was no marking outside of government plates. Par for the course for Black Ops. She walked up to the lead van. Before she got to it the passenger door opened and a man in civilian clothes came out and handed her a sheet of paper. It was an ammo request for 9MM, incendiary and frag grenades and smoke grenades. Also 50 call single rds used by snipers. She quickly checked that against the bunkers and figured out where to go. She then looked at the man.  
“I will need some kind of ID.”

He handed her a card. It had his picture and a bar code and chip and the name John Smith. She rolled her eyes.   
“Very original. OK. Let’s go.” She walked up to the guard shack. The soldier on duty was warily watching the vans then looked at her.  
“Ma’am, those guys give me the willies.”

“No argument. But let’s give them what they want and get them out of here.”

“I heard that ma’am.”

Liz took her Hummer into the ASP with the vans following. She got to the bunker with the smoke and incendiary items in it and started there. She quickly filled out a 1348-1 and issued it to John Smith of DF. He signed it as such. She signed it as the issuer. They repeated that at two more magazines for the Small arms and the Frag grenades. They just wanted individual boxes, so she did not have to get a forklift.

It took just over an hour. When it was done Smith said.  
“Thank You ma’am and you never saw us.”

“Understood. I will keep the 1348-1’s as secret documents- they will have to be used to account for inventory purposes.”

“Understood.” And they were gone. Liz shook her head and went back to her quarters to try and get some more sleep.

The next day she got a call from the IOC. The Installation XO.   
“LT Parker, I understand you issued some ammunition last night to Black Ops.”

“Sir I can neither confirm nor deny. This is classified.”

There was silence for a minute. “Oh. Those guys. Never mind, Lt. Better off not talking about them at all.” 

Luckily that was the only issue she had to make like that. All other Spec Ops issues were for normal training. 

Two weeks later Liz had a meeting with the new Spec Ops ASP leadership. 2 Lts and 4 Sergeants. The sergeants were all veterans; and two were 89Bs.The Lts were veterans but new to Ammo.  
“I will be evaluating the 89Bs for knowledge and everyone else for attitude and ability to figure it out and make the proper judgment calls. Let’s go to the ASP.”

Liz had just about finished all the necessary work on the Division Ordnance Company; its new commander was already on post; he had had some experience with another ordnance company and looked good. So now she just had to evaluate the Spec Ops crew.

One week later she called up the Installation Acting Commander.  
“Ready for more good news?”

“Always, Lt Parker.”

“The Spec Ops guys will be OK. The 89Bs are sufficiently knowledgeable and have a good attitude, and the others have the right attitude and are smart enough to learn.”

“Very good, Lt Parker.”

Two months after starting it, Liz left the Ordnance Company much better then she found it. She headed back to Aviation. When she walked in the door of the Brigade HQ she stopped dead. On a table in the middle of the entrance way lay a mannequin made up with a BDU and positioned as if for burial. It was in pieces as if ripped apart and taped together. On it was a sign.

I pissed off ‘Doberman Parker’ 

She shook her head. Well now she knew what her call sign was going to be. Before she left they had been trying to figure hers out.

The Brigade Commander was waiting for her.  
“From all sources you did a real good job cleaning up someone else’s mess. Glad to have you back.”

“Thank you sir. I just want to get back to flying.”

And she started again the very next day.


	6. Back to War

She was a little rusty and Griffith and Winston let her ease back in; Dugan had gotten a lot of flight time in those two months and it showed. It was now summer and getting hot. She had been gone from the end of March to the end of May. To make things more interesting, the word had come down that the Aviation Brigade would be deploying to Afghanistan in December. Liz was just glad she would have at least 5 months to catch up with her training. She had gotten two commendations for her TDY, but she hoped that was the end of it for a long time. 

She noticed that the people at Aviation treated her differently now; some with wariness but more importantly with real respect. ‘I guess acting like a Bitch on PMS and steroids impressed them’ was her gloomy thought.

Liz had gone over what she had done and while it very much bothered her how she had done it, what she had done was spot on as far as she was concerned. Being the Bad Ass was very much against her nature; but that is all she could draw from when she had to go hard core. Looking back on it, it was as if her body had been hijacked and she had been an observer. Liz realized that that part was indeed inside her; and would always be there. She just hoped to never have to need it again.

Getting back into flying was absolutely the best medicine and therapy for Liz. Whirling her Apache through the air, firing at targets, that was real living.

The AH-64D Apache Longbow was a very high tech weapon system. The 30MM chain gun in the nose; the two pods of 2.75” rockets; the 8 Hellfire Anti-Tank missiles; and if needed 4 Stingers or two Sidewinders on the tips of the stubby wings gave the Apache a Lot of Bite. The pods for the hellfire’s and 2.75” can be changed out to have more of either- 4 pods of 2.75” or 16 hellfire’s (4 to a pod). It was designed primarily as an Anti-Tank platform to be used in Europe if the Warsaw pact had ever attacked. The joke of it was that it was only fully deployed right at the very end of the Cold War, pretty much after there was any real threat of it happening. 

Its real baptism of fire in a serious way had come during Desert Storm; and it showed itself to be extremely effective. Now like any other Helicopter it was much more vulnerable to ground fire than any fixed wing aircraft; and that was something that had been forgotten during some of the opening battles of the Iraq war. A flak trap had been set up that caused damage to 31 of 34 Apache’s used in one attack. Only 1 had been shot down and a few heavily damaged, which was something that had been lost in the fallout of that particular attack. The Apache was armored and had redundant systems to compensate for battle damage, so it could take more hits than most choppers and still fly. But you had to use common sense; if you got cocky and over confident, the Gods of War would make you pay.

As the months counted down before the deployment to Afghanistan, Liz continued to improve in all areas of flying and fighting the Apache. She also got more experience in flying as part of the platoon, company and Battalion. Though Full Battalion flights were rare. In Afghanistan the duties of Apache’s were escort and fire support. They would escort other choppers in assaults or supply missions; and suppress ground fire and give support to forces on the ground. In Afghanistan the most usual fire support from the air was from Apache’s; the terrain and other factors limited the use of fixed wings. That and the increasing importance of preventing collateral damage and injuring and killing bystanders and noncombatants. The fighting was low intensity; the Taliban was weak and much of the actual fighting was being done by foreign imports brought in by Al Qaeda. Those and the warlords that was endemic to Afghanistan. The tribal loyalty by far trumped anything else. One other fact that made the choppers more favored for support was that since they came in much lower and slower they were able to take more time identifying the targets; and the weapons used were much smaller than the minimum 500 lb bombs used by the fixed wings.

So the Apaches of the 1st Battalion, called “Expect no Mercy”, worked as much as they could to prepare for Afghanistan. They would be going to Ft Carson in October for 30 days of training in the mountains there; which would be the best place since it was the most similar to the mountainous parts of Afghanistan.

Most of their training began to focus on how to pinpoint targets and take them out; without hitting those that they would be protecting. As always the lower and slower you were the easier that was; while making you a much easier target for the enemy. The big threat was someone getting close enough to hit you with a RPG. There were few anti air missiles available to the enemy. If they could get close enough, a 12.7MM MG could down an Apache if it hit the right areas. A 23MM could do it anywhere, but they were hard to transport so only camps and such would have them.

The flight to Ft Carson was practice for the Battalion in ferry flight. All four hard points on the wings were filled with fuel tanks and the Aircraft was completely unarmed. Around 1200 or so miles was the maximum range. That varied according to height flown, speed, and climate. They had calculated this fairly carefully, and the speed would be 120 Knots at 7000 feet. It would be a long flight of almost 9 hours.

The only good thing about the flight is that they were allowed to take their personal items with them as long as they could fit in the cockpits and not get in the way. Ted snarked that Liz had an unfair advantage due to her size; Liz snarked back that she, being a modern female, had more needs than a Neanderthal.

The first part of the trip was interesting, flying over Missouri and the Ozarks; then they got to Kansas and the terrain became very boring. Liz and Ted traded off every hour. Liz had let Ted make the takeoff; she would land.

They talked to each other to keep themselves awake; and to the other choppers; they were flying in a fairly loose formation about 1 KM apart. This was fairly boring; but that was not all that bad. It was good training in that it forced you to work at being alert. The weather was clear; that had been the rule before even starting out. They had a weather window of about 10 days just in case. They had gone out on day 4. 

“OK, people, lets tighten it up. We will be in visual of Ft Carson in 15 Mikes. Let’s not let them think a bunch of Reserves are flying these things.”

That was the Battalion XO, Major Collins. He was senior flight officer of the 1st Battalion. The Battalion commander was just too busy most of the time to fly; reality of the modern military.

So they tightened up into boxes of 4, side by side, in 3 groups as the entire battalion tried to look STRAC. They did look good as they landed at the Air Field there.

They would be in Temp Quarters while at Carson; Liz was lucky in that she got a room all too herself. After getting something to eat she took a shower and crashed.

The very next day the crews, who had flown up the day before, got to work on the ships, readying them for the vigorous training to come. For Liz, she was not all that far from her former home. Nancy had settled in well in Columbus and was seeing someone; she tweaked Liz in that she might end up with someone faster that Liz did. Liz found that she did miss the mountains; and was not unhappy to spend some time in them.

The training started with familiarization in high altitude flying; which is critical for helicopters. The altitude maximum for the Apache was 21,000 feet; but that was under special circumstances. Realistically under normal conditions it was around 15,000. Which was something to think about as many mountains in Afghanistan were higher than that. Helicopters, due to the need of their rotors to generate lift, are very vulnerable to sudden changes of winds and conditions at higher altitudes where the air is much thinner. Much of the fighting surrounds mountains and their passes.

Liz could tell the difference immediately as they started to fly higher; most of the time they had flown around 4-5000 feet while at Campbell. Now they were flying at around 10,000+. The chopper was much more skittish, winds more greatly affected it, and response to control moves were often sluggish. More power was needed to maintain level flight; and thus each mission would be shorter due to greater consumption of fuel. That was why they were also starting to practice flying with an external fuel tank in place of one or two of the rocket pods.

One thing that had been concentrated on was that for the first time the Longbow model was going to Afghanistan. Previously only A models were sent; as it was thought the Longbow was not needed. The British had believed that that idea was NOT correct. But the US commanders often preferred that the extra fuel allowed by not having the radar on the bird was better overall. The UK versions had the better engine and that was the biggest reason they chose to keep the radar on. The 1st Battalion was going with their own birds and the Longbow; while there they would make the decision on whether to take it off. 

So they were going to train in Colorado both using and not using the Longbow. They would then get an idea of the differences in capabilities. What they probably would end up doing is having one company take off the radar while the other two keep it. Then after a while evaluate. Liz had looked at the numbers as regards estimates the difference in having vs not having the Radar. It came to about 10-15% more combat time. To Liz it seemed to be more important to have the capability. She had ended up talking to Griffith and Winston about that; they had both had a lot more time in the Apache and in combat.

“Afghanistan is a totally different world then Iraq. The needs are much different. In Iraq I wanted the Longbow. In Afghanistan maybe not. I have talked to some guys that flew Apache A models there. And who upgraded to Longbow. They are kind of split on it as well.” Griffith was clearly on the fence.

“More combat time, more fuel is going to be critical in that terrain. A lighter bird makes a difference. I do not know but I am kind of leaning towards not having it.” Winston was tilting to not having it.

“Reading what the Brits say, it looks to me the superior reach and radar vision the Longbow gives is very important. Especially firing the Hellfire. I kind of lean towards having it. We gain only 10-15% more time in the air without it. Is that enough to compensate for being partially blind?” Liz made her stand clear. 

“Well, the Brigade is taking our birds and they have Longbow. So we can take them off if we want to. Makes sense to me; that way we can be flexible.” Said Griffith.

“Maybe have one or two companies take it off; the others keep it on. That way we have flexibility each way.” Liz pointed out.

That debate was to continue all the way too Deployment and beyond.

Liz gradually got the hang of flying in the mountains; and by the end of October they had all acclimated well. The flight back to Ft Campbell was just as uneventful as the flight out which everyone was grateful for. Upon landing the Apaches were immediately serviced then the weeks long preparations for deployment began. Their rotors would be taken off and the entire bodies carefully packed so as to be shipped in the C-17’s. From then until they deployed on 15 December, they would do very little flying.

The Brigade was given a week’s leave at Thanksgiving to visit family. Liz went to Georgia first since the girls had decided to stay there for thanksgiving; then she would spend the rest of the time with her mother in Columbus. She was looking forward to meeting the man her mother had been seeing for the last six months.

Liz got to Georgia on the Monday; and had a ball with the girls in their apartment. Being back with them just felt right. She also got to meet their boyfriends; which was a kick.

That first night, girls only, they sat around just relaxing.  
Isabelle fixed Liz with a glare.  
“OK, time for you to dish on what happened at Campbell as regards you becoming your call sign Doberman.”

The other girls goggled at that, and then began laughing.  
“Doberman?” Squeaked Maria.

“Come on” came from Tess.

Liz looked at Isabelle. “How did you find that out?”

Isabelle rolled her eyes then pulled out a stack of papers.  
“These are printouts from a couple of sites I found. They are forums where military people tend to talk to each other. I happened on them a while ago and go back now and then to get a feel at what is going on. One is from Spec Ops and the other is from a site called ‘Rotorheads anonymous’.”

Liz quickly read them and groaned.  
“OK. These are really exaggerated. I did not have those LTs hauled out in handcuffs. I did not work them 24/7 for a month straight. Never more than 14 hours a day and only 11 straight once.”

The girls looked at her. “What did you do?” came from Maria.

“Went in with a serious attitude and made them all work my way. Leaned on them hard for the first couple of weeks then backed off as they got better. Nowhere near what it is portrayed.”

The girls nodded. Then Isabelle pulled one more sheet out. “What about this?” Liz read it then got very quiet. Maria plucked it out of her hands and she and Tess read it. They both then looked at her with big eyes.   
_______________________________________________________________  
“I heard those Iraqi’s she killed were begging for mercy at the end.”  
_______________________________________________________________  
“I talked to a guy that was there. He said she ordered them to let some wounded ones lay there and scream to intimidate the others. Then offed them herself when she wanted some peace and quiet.” 

Liz took a deep breath. “I did let them scream; that scared the other ones and bought us more time. I did not kill them for peace and quiet, well not that kind. I killed them so that we could listen for any more coming. Some of them were praying to Allah.”

The girls were very quiet then Tess, Maria Isabelle hugged her tightly. Liz then started to cry. 

“I think sometimes that I should somehow feel guilty for doing that; but I really believe I did what I had to do.”

They spent the rest of the night cuddling and it was not mentioned again.

It was very relaxing as well with her mother in the house she was renting; Ted was the man she was seeing and Liz liked him. Her mom seemed happy.

When she got back to Campbell they were working on getting ready to deploy. On Dec 17, 2007 they landed at Bagram Airfield.

Liz looked around. It was cold, windy and dusty. Not a very good introduction. The Aviation brigade got fairly decent quarters; wooden buildings not tents. They had heating that was fairly good and air conditioning units that they were told could keep the temps below 90 in the summer. They were also told that was a lot better than it had been up to a year ago. Liz was placed in one of the bigger buildings with all the other female officers of the 101st Aviation brigade. There were 31 of them. From WO’s to a Major. Liz noted that there were only 6 of them senior to her; the Major, 3 captains and 2 LTs with more time in grade. None of them were pilots. There were no other female pilots or copilots in the 1st Battalion; there were 11 in the other battalions. After they got themselves sorted out the major gathered them together.

“OK. First things first. No one goes anywhere alone – you go with another woman or a man you trust in your own unit. I would much rather you women stick together. This is something the brass tries to hide but there have been more than a handful of sexual assaults here at Bagram. Anyone who has been in Iraq is familiar with that situation.”

Liz sat there quietly. One of the good things about her time in Iraq was that they had been pretty safe as regards things like that. She knew that this place would be different; she had no intention of being a statistic. She carried a small knife, pepper spray and would not go anywhere without her sidearm.

“The worst things first. Now remember the culture of this country and region. Take no chances. You will not leave the airbase unless specifically authorized. Stay in the secured areas; and watch out every minute. You will be given a briefing tomorrow morning that will be nowhere near as blunt. Just nod your heads and play along with the PR bullshit.”

They then headed in a body to try out the mess hall. It turned out to be not bad. Liz made it a point to look around for women that she felt comfortable with. It turned out that a couple others had the same idea.

“OK. Who do we look to pair up with?

“Well someone like us. We are not exactly party animals are we?”

“The building is set up 4 to a room; there are 3 of us. Who should we look at?”

“Pilots for one. No grunts or desk jockeys.”

“OK. While eating let’s look around.”

Liz felt a little lonely. The only female pilot in the first Battalion, she had not had much to do with the rest of them. 

“What about her?”

“Doberman Parker?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know. I heard she can be a real bitch.”

“Well look what she got tossed into. I would have been a bitch as well.”

“Well you are a bitch anyway.”

“So what do you think?”

“From what I heard she is ok. No problems with anyone. Her crew chief is an old time grunt and likes her. She takes care of her crew.”

“That is good. She has also been to Iraq so she knows the score that way.”

“Yeah. No one doubts she will rip you up if she has to. I heard what she did in that convoy fight.”

“You know, from a very practical point of view it would be a good idea to get an Apache pilot on our side as a friend.”

“That is true. OK let’s do it.”

Liz was looking for an empty table when three officers at another table waved to her. Curious she headed towards them. They were all warrants. A redhead, a blond and a brunette. 

“Lt Parker, grab a seat.”

“Thanks guys. You drive Blackhawk’s?”

“Yeah 5th battalion. Eagle Assault.” 

“Sometimes the nicknames…”

“Yeah. We know. So wanna join us?”

“Sure. I was feeling lonely. I was real lucky my time in Iraq; I had three best buds with me.”

“That helps. We feel the same way; this is still Neanderthal Central.”

“Tell me about it. I am pretty lucky; no real problems in my battalion and in my platoon and company it’s great. Got a top crew chief as well.” 

Jesse was the Redhead; Ellen was the Blonde; Vicki was the Brunette. Ellen was no classic blonde.  
“Liz, you were in Iraq. What do you think of what the Major said?”

Liz got very serious; the others saw this and leaned forward.  
“Towards the end of my tour in Iraq, you could start to see things happening. Since then it’s gotten worse. There are a lot of reasons but frankly why does not matter to us. We have to protect ourselves. I carry a knife in my boot and have my 9mm with me at all times; with a round in the chamber. I also have a small can of pepper spray where I can get it fast. Like the Major said, go no place alone no matter what.”

Vicki shook her head. “Round in the chamber; that is dangerous!”

Liz shook her head decisively. “The safety is on; you cannot fire it without that off. And the hammer is down. You would have to cock it and take the safety off. You can do that with one hand. Think about it: you might only have one hand free for a moment. That is why I also have the knife and the pepper spray. You can get them at the PX even here.”

The women mulled this. Ellen sighed. “I hate it but I think you are right. Did not think about the fact to chamber a round you have to use your other hand.”

Liz nodded. “I know of some women who carry a small revolver in their belt; less obvious and you do not have to worry about a safety. And you can keep the hammer over an empty cylinder. Think about it. We have to watch over ourselves; we should not count on anyone else doing it.”

Vicki looked at her. “I think having you around will make us all feel a lot safer.”

Jesse grinned. “And considering things, having an Apache driver in our corner could be important.”

Liz grinned. “Never know.” She had a feeling they would be good friends. 

Isabelle squealed. “Max!”

Max Evans grinned as he hugged his younger sister. They had not seen each other in over a year.

“Izzy!”

She swatted him. “Don’t call me that.”

“I am your older brother so guess what: live with it!”

“Now children.” Came from the smiling Diane Evans, with her husband right beside her snickering. Glad to see that some things do not change.

Max had decided bothering his younger sister was fun when he had visited when Isabelle was in junior high and already starting her reign as Queen of all she surveyed. Needless to say she had been an irresistible target. Max was almost 15 years older than Isabelle. He had been an accident when Diane and Phillip were freshmen at college. Diane had been determined that no more accidents would happen and had gotten her tubes tied. Unfortunately when the couple had graduated and wanted more children, it was found that the operation to untie them was not as simple as it should have been. Damage was done that seemed to preclude more children. So Isabelle had come along as a complete surprise.

“So, Max, just visiting?”

“Got time off for Christmas; head back after New Year’s.”

“Where have you been?”

“Afghanistan.”

“WHAT!!” came from all three of the other Evans.

“Been there for a couple of months. Got bored in Kuwait and took a job with another contractor in Afghanistan. Maintenance on the flight line at Bagram Airfield.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Because you would have worried. It’s pretty safe there; especially where I work. Security is very heavy on the flight line.”

The three other Evans sighed but realized arguing about it would not accomplish anything. Max Evans had joined the Marines right out of High School; much to his parent’s displeasure. They wanted him to go to college. He didn’t. He had stayed in and finished his twenty years only a few years earlier. He had been in Marine Aviation as a ground crew tech and other areas. He had then gotten a job with a contractor that worked for the DOD overseas. Footloose and fancy free, his parents and sister had just about given up hope he would settle down.

“So Isabelle, I hear you are thinking of getting hitched? Who is the unlucky guy?”

Isabelle rolled her eyes. “Alex is very aware of how lucky he is.”

“Got the poor guy whipped good I see.”

That pretty much set the tone. The family was together and that is what mattered.

“Max, you can look up Liz when you get back to Bagram. She just got there with the 101st Aviation Brigade. She flies an Apache.”

Max remembered Izzy writing about her friend. A pint sized Xena from the way she had been described in the media. He had heard about her from friends still in the military. There had been some serious stories about that fight.

“From issuing bullets to shooting them. The Apache is one mean machine. Sounds like it is right up her alley.”

“Liz is a good friend and if I hear from her that you have been anything other than nice I will make sure you regret it. Is THAT clear, GONZO?”

“Peace, Izzy. I doubt I will run into her but I will play nice if I do. Promise. Promise on the bodies of all of your dead Barbie’s.”

“VERY FUNNY.”

Liz soon found that flying in Afghanistan was much tougher than even in Colorado; the fine dust and such was not a friend to electronics. Grunt had a full time job keeping her Apache up and running. So far A Company had kept their Longbow; the other two had had it taken off in the first month. But the value of the Longbow had been shown on a couple of occasions so it seemed that A company would stay the way it was for at least the time being.

She found herself really liking her roommates; while probably they would not get as close as Maria, Tess and Isabelle they were making the time here better. Isabelle had written that her older brother was with the contractor that maintained the flight line at the Airfield. Liz had not seen him; but then she had been pretty busy getting acclimated to the climate and everything else.

Max was the supervisor of the crew that was responsible for the actual maintenance of the runways and lights; taxiways and helipads. He usually had spent most of his time at the end where the fixed wing aircraft were. Not much where the choppers worked. But with the new runway finished and lights done and such; there was not that much to do there unless something happened. There was virtually no chance of damage from enemy attack; and if there was it was almost always the aircraft and not the field. The helicopter area was being expanded as more and more choppers were used in the fighting and the movement of supplies and personnel. They had built some new hangers so that the choppers could be worked on under cover and better protected from the weather and the climate. Helicopters were more vulnerable to dust; and Afghanistan like most of the Middle East specialized in that. So now he was also in charge of maintenance of those buildings as well. And that meant he spent more time down there.

Sergeant Gunt glared at his Apache. She was a fine machine; but this lousy place played havoc on keeping it running well. That damn dust especially got into everything and electronics and dust did not work well together; and dust and turbine engines were mortal enemies. Maintenance was up over 50% from normal; and would probably go higher. At least they had plenty of spare parts.

Max was checking out the new hangers for the choppers. They were metal and had filtration systems, but since the doors had to be open so much it was questionable just how much those systems were worth. He went in the far one and saw a crew working on an Apache. He admired that bird; had seen it in action while in Desert Storm. But it sure took a lot of work. He approached what had to be the Crew Chief; he was a senior sergeant and he looked pissed. Par for the course.

“Yo, Chief. Having fun keeping that delicate bird of flight happy?”

Gunt glared at the contractor. 

“And what would you know about it?”

“Was a crew chief for Crashhawks during Desert storm while in the Corps. That was not much fun but everything I have ever heard says Apaches are a lot more work.”

Gunt looked at him closely – was he for real or just spouting a line?

Max grinned. “Let me guess: the avionics hate the dust; the turbines are worse; and that damn chin gun is a nightmare.”

Slowly Gunt nodded. Maybe this guy was genuine.

“I never understood why they did not put that gun in a turret; it would not have weighed that much more and it would have protected it from the dust and dirt a hell of a lot better.”

“Our Huey’s were about the same; a little more sheltered but not all that much. Pretty much found the lightest machine oil we could get and just washed it down constantly. Yeah that attracted more shit but the extra oil kept it running a little better.”

Gunt looked thoughtful. He had heard some that had tried that. “Maybe.” 

Max walked closer and looked at the Apache. “Maybe throwing a tarp over it whenever you are not working on it or flying it would help. Anything that keeps as little dust collecting as you can.”

“Problem with that is unless you drape it over everything including the rotors it’s not much good. And that could damage the rotors. Not to mention a huge hassle getting it on and off.”

Max looked at the roof. These hangers had been built a little stronger than he had thought. There were overhead cranes. Something was at the back of his mind. Something he had seen or heard about, what was it? Then he remembered.

“How about this: an aluminum frame that is a couple of feet bigger than the perimeter of the bird; clear plastic hanging down; attached to the crane, you lift it up to take the bird out and drop it down when it gets back. Clear lets the light in but keeps the dust out. You can put it a kind of doorway that you can walk in and out; you can do all the work on the machine except for engine replacement and the like. 90% of your regular maintenance can be done and the only time the bird is exposed to the elements is basically when it’s flying.”

Gunt’s eyes widened as he visualized it. He looked up at the roof of the hanger. There were a dozen or more cranes; which is about the number of choppers they could put in the hanger. IF that worked it would really help; keeping the dust out was job one. He looked at Max and held out his hand.  
“Damn good idea. I will see if I can get this to someone who will try. Sergeant Gunt; but everyone calls me Grunt and I have quit fighting it.”

“Max Evans. I am in charge of airfield facility maintenance for the contractor here. I know where we can get the plastic; there are piles of it just sitting in one of the warehouses for some project that got canceled. The aluminum pipe or polls – that would be easy to get; lots of it laying around. Would not take much time if we got a bunch of guys working on it.”

“Sounds good. Now I gotta figure out how to get to someone with the clout to make the brass listen.”

“Battalion Maintenance?”

“He is a gomer that is just putting in his time.”

“Bummer. OK, how about starting with your Company commander or battalion commander?”

“Well, better talk to my pilot first.”

Max was looking at the Apache; below the pilot’s seat was a picture of a Doberman with oversized fangs.  
“That is your pilot?”

“Yeah.”

Wonder what the guy is like? If that is accurate probably a real meat eater. Most pilots had more balls than brains, in his experience. All snarl and no thought. 

“Come on. Let’s hit the head shed; most of the pilots are probably there right now.”

Max followed him into the next building which was somewhat of an office building; neither fish nor fowl. Grunt headed down the hall and stuck his head in one office.

“LT Parker? Got someone here who has a good idea on how we can keep the dust off of our birds.” He then went in motioning Max to follow.

There were several desks in there; right in front was one where a pretty big dude was sitting. Bet that was this ‘Doberman’, well he looks the part.

“What’s that Sarge?” 

A very definitely NON Doberman voice that. He looked to the right and at a desk in the corner sat a very small and very pretty young woman. Whom he recognized from pictures Izzy had.  
“YOU are Doberman?” Max could have sunk through the floor at that. The whole room burst into laughter and that made it worse. But she just rolled her eyes and smiled.  
“When the Battalion comedians come up with a call sign you are stuck with it. Hi. Liz Parker.”

Max managed to collect his wits from the several countries they had been scattered to and shook her hand; it was a firm shake for such a small woman.  
“Max Evans. Isabelle is my sister.”

Her eyes got HUGE. “You are Izzy’s brother Max? All she ever said that he was a pain in her butt, wandering killer of her Barbie’s when she was a kid. Did not realize how much older you were.” 

“15 years between us. Had fun one summer while I was around shooting her Barbie’s with an airgun then hanging the survivors. Iz was NOT amused.”

“So what are you doing here? Iz said you had gotten out of the corps. Marine Aviation as I recall?”

“Yeah, crew chief on crashhawks in Desert Storm. So I have an idea what the Middle East does to choppers.”

Grunt piped up. “His idea would take some work but I think it would really cut down on our maintenance time. It should protect the birds a lot better.”

“Well let’s hear it.”

Max quickly explained his idea to a room of very interested pilots. They had only been flying for a month so far and the dust and crap had shown itself to be a huge problem from day one. Grunt pointed out the advantages of it. Liz listened carefully. When they were done she sat for a moment.  
“We could also get heaters or blowers in the summer that would help cool off or heat up the air inside the bubble; that would help your crews wouldn’t it?”

“A whole lot sir. With the doors open as much as they are; and the heating system having to work hard just to compensate when it really gets cold, it would make working on the small stuff a lot easier when your hands are not frozen. And from what guys who have been here before tell me, in the heat anything can make a big difference.” 

Liz nodded slowly. Then stood up. “OK, let’s scare up Griffith and then we go to the Battalion commander.”

She led them out of that office and down the hall.

Captain Griffith was just as enthusiastic and they then went in search of the Battalion commander. He signed off quickly and the increasingly larger group headed for HQ and where the Brigade Maintenance office was.

The Brigade Maintenance officer thought about it after the proposal was made. Clean rooms. That is what they were looking at. If the material was available, it made so much sense. Every other unit that had operated here told the same story; the dust and crap was the biggest enemy; not the mountains and weather or the Taliban. He looked at them.  
“I like it. I think the idea can be tweaked a little but it makes a lot of sense. Anything that can appreciably cut down on dust getting into the systems has to be looked at. Let’s get this written up and brainstorm it. I want all battalion maintenance personnel on this; and we need to go to the Brigade Commander.” He looked at the Battalion Commander.  
“We need a formal proposal. Get on it; the Brigade Maintenance XO will work with you.”

“Yes sir.”

An hour later Max, Grunt, Parker, the Battalion Commander and several other maintenance officers were in a conference room working out the proposal. One of the maintenance officers was talking.  
“We have the cranes; but moving those bubbles around will be a hassle; we need to measure the height that the cranes can lift something; I am not sure we can get full clearance at the top lift point.”

“Then we can roll up the front; that should mean we would not have to lift it as high.”

Liz had been doodling, thinking about the whole thing.  
“Why do we need to keep lifting and moving the bubble?”

The rest of the room looked at her. She got up and went to the black board where the proposal had been drawn up.  
She quickly drew a diagram of the hanger. Then put squares along each wall. She pointed at them.  
“Make the frames go from floor to a level that clears the rotors. Not hang from the cranes. Drape the plastic over it. At the front-here- (she pointed) have it fixed so that it can be lifted or rolled up and down. We have those electric carts now to move the Apache’s or any of the choppers. We wheel them in and out of the bubbles. That way we can put them side by side along both sides of the hanger. We can service and protect more choppers that way. We just need a center isle big enough to move them in and out. We can still move the entire frame plus the plastic with the cranes if need be.”

The Brigade Maintenance XO was nodding.  
“That is simpler. And you are correct, LT Parker. We can put more ships in and work on more of them that way.”

One other maintenance officer agreed. “That would also allow us to better install blowers and heaters for the bubbles if we do not have to keep moving them around.”

The XO looked around. “Any other suggestions?” There were none. “Then let’s get this written up in a form that we can present to the Brigade Commander.”

IT took several hours more, and Max took Grunt and a couple others out to show what was available, before they got it all put together. They were to present it to the Brigade Commander the next day.

The Apache Company had not had much to do at the moment; things were usually fairly quiet in the depths of December and January and February since not even the Taliban liked to do much in the winter. Liz had not yet had to fire a shot in anger; the only firing was practice and training. She was getting the hang of the different conditions in Afghanistan. 

The Crew, as she called her room mates, made life bearable. They were a more lively bunch then her other friends; which in the conditions they were in made a difference. They stayed in a group as much as possible; and true to what the Major and Liz had said none of them ever went out alone at any time unescorted. There had already been a couple of incidents, not bad ones thankfully, that had reinforced the caution.

Max had gone out and quietly gathered all the material for the bubbles he could get his hands on. His years as a supply guy had taught him how to get things done without paperwork and without people higher up noticing. The plastic had been moved to the flight area; and the aluminum polls that would be used for frames had been collected and was a gathering pile as well. Looking over it he figured they had enough for about 20 or so bubbles already. Maybe more. He thought that there was enough plastic for 40 or 50. 

He had emailed Izzy that he had met her friend. He asked her if she had told Izzy her call sign.

Isabelle read the latest email from her brother. She looked at Maria and Tess who were waiting on the latest word from Liz; who was trying to keep in touch but was busy as all get out.

Liz had helped write up the proposal; and had started to get to know Max Evans. He was definitely tall, dark and handsome. The fact that he was 15 years older than she was did not put her off; she found very few men her age mature enough to bother with. Being around pilots did not help; many of them had not grown up and there were signs many never would.

Max still had a fair amount of little boy about him; but anyone who had done 20 years in the Marines was a lot more mature then anyone she saw much of on a daily basis. At least anyone that could be considered eligible. Which for Liz in the current situation was a very small number. Fellow pilots were not in the mix due to maturity; dating anyone not an officer had all sorts of other problems. Of non-flying officers the pickings were kind of slim. She really had not considered civilians. Not that there were many around. But it was probably a moot point anyway; as busy as she was likely to be finding time to really date anyone would be a serious challenge; and it was time that was almost certainly better spent in just relaxing and resting.

Max meanwhile was seriously thinking about Liz Parker. Cute as a button with a great smile; what was there not to like? He also liked women who had some iron in the spine and it was clear Liz had that in spades. He had contacted one of his buds in Spec Ops on a rumor he had heard; and his bud had gotten back to him with some interesting stuff. Apparently Liz had kicked ass and taken names while rebuilding an ordnance company at Ft Campbell; and that had included a section of Spec Ops types. Which was how she got the Doberman call sign. He pondered asking Izzy for information; then decided not to. It might be more fun finding out himself.

Liz laughed as she read her email from Iz. Apparently Max had emailed her about meeting Liz. She decided that turnabout was fair play.  
‘Iz. Tell me more about your brother. I get the feeling that there is a lot more than appears on the surface.’

Isabelle read Liz’s email and looked at the other two.  
“Liz is asking for details on Max. I think she might just be interested.”

Maria nodded vigorously. “Whatever it takes. We got to get Liz at least looking at guys. She might as well be a nun right now.”

Tess agreed. “She needs to at least get into the game; she is almost 25 and I am willing to bet has never done more than kiss a guy. And here we are probably all going to get married as soon as we graduate.”

Isabelle looked surprised. “You really think Liz is a virgin?”

Maria sighed. “She is. She kind of let it slip one day; I don’t think she realized I heard. I am kind of sure she is a little embarrassed about it.”

Tess shook her head. “That does not surprise me. BUT look at it from her side: Podunk town and school in Wyoming, no one there and from what she said she worked just about all the time she was not in school. No serious boyfriend there. Then she gets into boot camp and AIT – not exactly a whole lot of opportunity there unless you are in for a quickie one night stand and that is so not her. Then she gets to Stewart right on 9/11. Then Iraq; and we can all agree since we were there that the chances of anything good happening in the romance area was slim at best; and Liz once again was busier than hell. Gets back from Iraq and has to work on training her replacement. Then OCS and Flight School. Why start something there when no one knows where you will be? Then Ft Campbell and all the fun she had there before deploying, not to mention being a newbie Apache pilot. It all makes sense when you bother to think about it.”

The other two slowly nodded. Maria sighed and looked at Isabelle. “Find out if he is really interested. If he is then let’s see what we can do to help get things started. But let him know that if he breaks her heart he is a man who will beg for death before we are done with him.”

Interestingly enough someone else had noticed potential sparks. Captain Griffith. Who then talked to Jim Winston.  
“I think Max has eyes for Liz.”

“Well anyone that has eyes should have eyes for Liz.”

“Of course but unless my vision is fading I think there just might be some interest on her part.”

“Now that is a change. She has not given ANYONE the time of day since she arrived at Campbell.”

“Can you blame her? It’s a tough spot she is in; the only female Apache Pilot on base. She knows damn well that people are watching her waiting for her to screw up. She was pretty high profile before she ever arrived. You can see that; she is very careful about how she goes about in public. And let’s face it; would you want your kid sister dating any of the pilots here?”

James Winston, who DID have a younger sister, scowled. Most of the pilots were good pilots but the ones not already attached were acting like pilots have mostly acted since the days of Biplanes. Which meant no good older brother wanted any of THEM anywhere near his younger sister. Which was the way which he had started to think of Liz. He looked at Griffith.  
“Not a chance in hell.”

“And who does that leave? Enlisted are out for various reasons she is all too well aware of. Non flying officers; well what is there? I mean I am not a girl but there is slim pickens there for sure. Everyone that is not already attached is probably unattached for a good reason. And she is 25 and unless I have read all the signs real wrong, has never had a serious relationship. Max Evans is older and certainly more mature than most of what she runs into every day; and being a civilian has none of the other handicaps a fellow member of the military has. You put it all together and maybe it’s not a surprise that she might be thinking that way.”

Jim Winston still had a scowl. “He better not hurt her or he is dead meat.”

“He hurts her and there will be a line of guys and some women who will beat the living shit out of him.”

Ellen looked at Vicki and Jesse. “Is it my imagination or is Liz looking like a girl thinking of a guy now and then?”

Jesse thought about it. “Maybe. I mean we do not know her that well yet.”

Vicki slowly nodded. “It’s possible. The question would be who?”

Ellen pondered that. “From what Liz has said she is NOT interested in dating a pilot.”

The other two snorted. “No. Really.”

Ellen continued. “Non flying types?”

They considered that. “Maybe. But who?”

Jess was thinking hard. “That guy that came up with the idea of plastic bubbles for the choppers? Max Evans? He has been around a fair bit working on that.”

The other two pondered. “That to me might be a real thought” said Vicki. Ellen nodded. “Methinks we might have to observe this situation.”

The bubble idea had been approved by the brigade commander and all available personnel had been roped in to help out. It took only a week to get most of it done. Each of the hangers had a dozen on each side; 24 to a hanger for both the Apache and the Blackhawks. The Chinooks were much bigger and they could only get 12 to a hanger. But the advantages were immediately seen and felt. The heaters that had been scrounged by Max and company were hooked to the rear of each bubble and blew air in; there had been a kind of door put together at the side for personnel to slip in and out. In cold weather it made a big difference for the mechanics and techs; it was almost warm inside. That kind of work got done a lot faster. Within two weeks of operations beginning after the birds being in the bubbles, available rates started going up and failure rates started going down. Time spent on maintenance decreased noticeably, and there were signs that usage of spare parts and the need for other repairs were going down. The early word was of the good.

It was the end of February before Liz got involved in her first combat situation; well one in which she had to fire anyway.

They were escorting 3 Chinooks who were bringing in supplies for a FOB. Company A was flying cover; 1st platoon down low for close cover while 2nd platoon flew high cover. Liz and her Wingman, Jake, was on the right while Winston and his were on the left. Things looked fine until the Chinooks took off after delivery. This was usually the time someone tried to make trouble; it took time to get close enough to shoot at them and they could not just wait all day long on the hope a chopper would show up.

Jake reported movement not far from the FOB and moved in; Liz covering. Ted, as the primary gunner, was sighting down there with the 2.75’s ready. Liz had the 30MM ready and was watching closely. 

Jake hosed the area with 2.75 HE and chewed it up. Liz was watching to his right and Ted to his left. Liz saw someone or something moving farther and brought the 30MM to lay on it. “something on the right, using the 30” She could see some firing and let go with the 30MM right at them. The 30MM HE exploded throwing rocks and dust into the air. She fired 10 rds and stopped and watched. Nothing moved.  
“Doberman, area clear.”

“Roger, Snake. Let’s pull out – the others are clear.”

“Roger.” 

And that was how she fired her first shots in anger from her Apache.

Liz did not dwell on the likelihood that she had killed someone; it was war and they were shooting at her wingman and that was the way it was.

As the weather warmed up they got busier. The bubble had really helped their operational rates climb. Liz and the others in Company A were going to keep their Longbow Radar; Liz liked it because it could keep track of lots of things at the same time.

3 weeks after the bubbles went up, Max stopped by her office.  
“What you doing for dinner tonight?”

She had looked at him then smiled. “Eating with you I guess.”

Max had decided to try and get to know her better and figured to start out small. They had a good time talking – the food was OK but that really did not matter. And so a couple of times a week he found time to take her to dinner or sometimes lunch. Liz did not have a Lot of down time; never ending paperwork and she was flying almost every day. But what she did have she started to spend with him.

The Crew observed this and approved. So did most of the others that noticed. Ted Dugan made a point of talking to Max the day after they were spotted eating dinner together.  
“Hurt her and they will NEVER find your body.” He made it short and to the point. As a matter of fact several people made it a point to give him warnings.

A week after firing her first shots Liz got in early one morning to find several of the pilots and copilots listening to Griffith.  
“So they strapped themselves to the wings and she flew them in and they got to the soldier and stabilized him and stuck with him until the ground pounders got there.”

Liz looked at Winston. “What happened?’

“Brit Apache driver strapped four ground pounders to her wings and flew them into rescue a trapped wounded soldier.”

Liz goggled. “Wow. That must have been some ride.”

“Yeah. How much you want to bet a directive will come down- NO ONE WILL BE STRAPPED TO THE WINGS OF AN APACHE UNDER ANY CONDITIONS.”

Liz giggled. “No bet.”

That was a good thing as two days later that directive did come down from command.

One week later a major exercise involving Spec Ops brewed up.

Winston was giving the briefing.  
“6 Hawks from 5 battalion will fly them in; they will hit the target and we will hover and wait to take them out. The Air Force will hit the area around the target first. Then 1st Platoon will go in as low cover while 2nd platoon will go as high cover. They THINK there may be some Taliban higher-ups there. So they want to identify who they hit. Which is why the target is not going to get plastered. Also there may be civilians there. So DO NOT just shoot if you see movement. Identify first. 4 Hawks will bring in the Strike Force; two others as Backups. Let’s get down to details.”

Liz was nervous; this was her first real serious combat mission. So far in three months she had not done a lot of shooting. But as the weather got warmer the Taliban and company started to get a lot more active. So naturally their side got more active as well.

The Crew was flying three of the 4 Hawks going in; that made it a little more personal to Liz. It was almost half an hour flying time to the target; they would have only about an hour to go before they had to return. Griffith was not happy that command had nixed replacing two pods with external tanks; but he had been able to get them to go along with one. One of the Hellfire pods was sacrificed. That would give them an extra 45 minutes there. So they could wait 1hr 45 minutes after arriving before they had to leave.

A company was flanking the Blackhawks as they headed out; this was also the first pre-dawn mission Liz had been on. Night missions were rare; mostly high priority Spec Ops operations. Fact was that it was hard to give much support at night; infrared had limited use and the night goggles were not exactly as good as daytime. Add to the fact that the warming weather made finding anyone with infrared tougher; warm rocks tended to hide people pretty well.

They took off exactly 40 minutes before dawn; it was near a pass, they would be operating at around 10,000 feet. The idea was to get there just before dawn; the Spec Ops got in and found what they needed; then there would be enough light for better support and cover fire as they were pulled out; which was usually when there were problems.

“Spectre Lead, this is Eagle Assault Lead. 5 minutes.”

“Roger.”

“Scooter (Winston) take position”

“Roger”

“Doberman right.”

“Roger”

Liz and her wingman, Jake, went right while Winston and Ken went left. They could all see the smoke from the Air Force doing their thing. The 4 Blackhawks went in fast and unloaded the Special Forces. They poured into the small village, moving fast. They did not appear to be taking fire. After a few minutes came the word.

“OK People let’s take them up. So far nothing for us.”

1st Platoon then increased altitude from about 500 feet above the ground to where the rest of A company was; about 2000 feet up. Which had them at about 11,000 feet. Liz concentrated on her controls and flying as economically as she could; milking their time on target.

Liz kept watching the clock; the timer showing how much fuel time was left. They were down to less than an hour and a half. The Spec Forces had been on the ground for almost 45 minutes. You always had to figure you would use more than you thought; the safe margin for error was never less than 10% and 20% was much better. So really they needed to leave in 30 minutes.

With 10 minutes to go the word came.  
“Scooter, get down there; Eagle Assault is moving in for pickup. We will come down to angels 10.” (1000 feet above ground)

“Roger.”

“OK, guys, move in as before.”

The Apache’s would go in first to draw any fire away from the more vulnerable Blackhawks.

They went down from 2000 feet to 500 in less than a minute. Swooping then hovering; once more Liz and Jake to the Right and Winston and Ken to the left. Liz spoke to Dugan.  
“I will look right and you left; I will take the gun.”

“Roger”

Liz kept the Apache hovering; trying not to think about the state of their fuel supply. It was going to get a little close as it was.

She watched as all four choppers went down and landed; then two by two the Spec Ops began to appear. One Chopper took off, then two. So far no sign of fire. Third one took off. And they waited.  
“Spectre’s give me bingo status” (how much flying time left)

They sounded off by platoon. Liz was a little surprised to see that she had the most left by almost 10 minutes.

One by one the Apache’s began to leave as they reached 40 minutes flying time left. Liz stayed where she was when Jake had to go; soon only she and Winston were left. Finally they saw someone moving towards the Blackhawk; but they were going slow, clearly wounded, one carrying another while two others covered them. She saw them firing down at the village.

“Doberman, I am close to Bingo.”

“Go Scooter.”

Liz saw some figures behind the ones heading for the Blackhawk. So did Ted. “Rockets?”

Liz looked hard. “Roger but just a couple.”

2 2.75” flechette rounds shredded the shrouded figures. Then they were at the Blackhawk and getting in.

“Doberman, this is Eagle Lead, taking fire.”

Wherever it was Liz could not see it nor could Ted so she got lower and moved in. Then they could see some firing at the Blackhawk as it began to take off. Without hesitation Liz used her 30 and hosed the immediate area; smoke and rocks flew.

“Doberman we are clear and OK; thanks for the cover.”

“Roger Eagle Lead.”

Liz looked at her gauge; this was going to get real close. She took her time going up and heading out; every gallon might be needed.

She saw the two extra Hawks waiting to fly with the last one. They had a better range. She moved with them, still escorting them though that really was a formality once they were this high. She was doing the math in her head; the readout had her making it back with 5 minutes to spare. It would be close.

“Doberman, what is your bingo status?”

“Eagle Lead, it’s going to be close but I think we are OK.”

Liz had stayed on her auxiliary fuel tank as long as she had dared; you could not run it dry or the engines could stall before you switched over. She had gotten pretty good at that; one of the reasons she had more range than the others. That and she had what she privately felt was the best crew and crew chief in the Brigade. She concentrated on flying as economically as possible on the way back. The fuel warning light came on with its buzzer at 15 minutes and she shut it off. 10 minutes to landing; she was beginning to relax a little. 

“Doberman you are cleared for landing first.”

“Roger”

Liz headed right to the spot and just as she set it down the right engine began to sputter. And as she began to shut it down the left engine sputtered and then they both were quiet, the rotor still spinning by momentum. Liz sighed. That was a little closer than it should have been. That gage and everything else had been a little optimistic. She figured she still had at least 2 minutes left. Then Ted said the first thing since they had left the area. “Liz, it’s a good thing you are so small. I think that extra 100 lbs was the difference.” Liz had to grin. “Maybe. So no more short jokes?” “Promise-no more.”

Then she was out of the ship and her crew chief was there.

“I heard them cut out. Gonna have to check the pumps and everything now.”

“Sorry Grunt.”

“That’s ok. Comes with the territory. But maybe next time you add a little string to your rope?”

“Will try.”

Liz took a deep breath and then followed Ted towards operations for the mission debrief.

Winston looked at Liz as she came in.  
“Liz, that was cutting it too close.”

“Sir, I thought I had at least two more minutes.”

That got a laugh from the whole room.

Finishing the debrief, Winston was more serious.   
“That came too close. Without Liz being able to hang there as long as she did, we might have lost that last Hawk and everyone in it. I am going to make it a point to demand we have two externals for anything that range from now on. Or if not we are going to have to cut things sooner than that. Several of us landed on fumes and Liz did not even have that.” 

The Battalion commander later on echoed that up the ladder.

The next day Liz was in her office when a Spec Forces captain stuck his head in her door.  
“Lt Parker?”

Liz looked up. “Yes.”

He advanced with his hand out and Liz stood up and took it.

“LT, it was me and a couple of my men with a wounded man that was in that last chopper. No way we get out if you had not stayed to cover us. You really ran the string out and we appreciate it.”

“Captain that is what we are here for. I promise you we will not leave you guys hanging out to dry.”

“Lt, from most I would just take those as words, but you already backed it up. You got friends in Spec Ops, I am here to tell you.”

The Crew appreciated Liz staying as well, even if none of them were flying the last chopper. Jesse spoke for them all.  
“5 Battalion knows you now Liz. We know you will be there for us; Eagle Assault will remember.”

Winston and Griffith were talking that night after the mission.  
“Liz really cut it close; though she did claim she thought she had two more minutes.”

“She is the kind that will take it that extra step.”

Commander, Special Forces, Afghanistan was talking to his XO.  
“That mission was a little close. Command screwed up not letting them have that extra tank.”

“Yes sir. The Company and Battalion commander already made that point. I think they will give their people a little more margin next time.”

“They better. I heard the last one down had her engines die just as she touched down.”

“That is what I hear as well. She was heard to tell her CO that she thought she had 2 more minutes left.”

“Parker, right?”

“Only female Apache driver in country now that that crazy Brit is gone.”

“Is it something about being women apache drivers that make them take it closer to the edge?”

“Not sure sir but that might be something to think on.”

“I hope our people made sure she knows we appreciate it.”

“Captain Thomas already let her know.”

“Good. It never hurts to make that known; might get us a little edge now and then when it matters.”

As spring began, the weather got hotter and so did the fighting. Starting in April, the Apaches of A company began to get more work as did the others. The British were switching out their Apache’s and were not operational, so the 1st Battalion got more calls. While there were other attack helicopters, everyone wanted the Apache’s there since they had the real muscle. First Battalion spent more time supporting the other countries as well; before the Brits took care of them.

Liz and Max were seeing each other regularly; or as much as they could when things started to get busier for Liz. Liz found herself really liking Max and starting to get comfortable with him. Max was coming to the realization that he just might be really serious about Liz. When she admitted to him that he was really her first serious boyfriend, he was startled. Iz had told him that she suspected it; but he really had not believed it. Not only extremely cute but really nice, he found it very hard to believe that she had not done any dating before. She blushed a little when he stated that, then got quiet. Finally she took his hand as they sat as they usually did together at the mess hall.  
“I had to work if I wanted anything in Wyoming. Mom made a good salary but it was expensive living there. So I was a waitress and worked most weekends. That did not really leave much time to see anyone. Then I went in the Army and it seems like I just never either had the time; or the situation was just not good for even looking so I did not even try. I mean you look around here and this is not exactly a great place to try and date; but I am. So does that tell you anything?”

He held her hand a little tighter. “Yes it does. Liz, I have been a rolling stone since I left high school. Do not have much to show for it except a fat bank account. Which in the grand scheme of things means very little. But I think I might have a reason now to finally settle down.”

Liz blushed softly. “Well, I guess we have to see how things go, don’t we?”

“I hope so.”

Liz was flying virtually every day the weather allowed it; and that was most days right now. With the other demands, multi mission days were becoming more and more common. Which was tough on the pilots and copilots, but even tougher on the crews. Liz talked to Grunt one afternoon after getting back from their second mission that day. That morning they had escorted a Canadian supply run; that afternoon a US one. They had not had to do any shooting, but it was still time in the cockpit and time on the bird.  
“How is the crew doing, Grunt?”

“Hanging in there, LT. But this multi mission stuff makes it hard to get things done and get any sleep; let alone anything else.”

“Don’t think Ted and I do not appreciate it, Grunt. We both know damn well how good our bird is because you guys take care of it.” 

“It’s nice to hear, LT, though the crew and I know that already.”

The next week brought an incident that was to be the talk of Apache Drivers everywhere for years to come.

Another Spec Ops mission. Another high pass, another village being searched for Taliban leadership. Different area.

Once again 4 hawks in with the Spec Ops, 2 in reserve. A Company flying support. This time though they would have two external fuel tanks. One pod of rockets and one pod of hellfire’s. It was not quite as far away so this time no one was really worried about fuel. This was 6 Battalion so none of the Crew were here.

Yet Liz had a funny feeling as they set out; just as they were getting close that feeling got a little stronger and she talked to Ted.  
“Ted, I have a funny feeling about this mission.”

“What, Liz.”

“Not sure. But it’s getting stronger; let’s be extra watchful this time.”

Ted thought about this. Liz was not one to say anything like this. She never had before.  
“NO problem with that.”

This time 1st Platoon was high cover and 2nd was low. Which should have meant that Liz was in the safer position. But her feeling of dread began to grow.

The hawks went in; as before the Air Force had shaken everyone up with a bombing run; the idea was that most would stay under cover which would give the spec ops the edge coming in.

2nd Platoon was down low; 1st was high; everyone was keeping a close watch. Then it began to go sideways.

“Spectre, I have multiple targets NW of dustoff.”

“Take them.”

“Multiple targets SW of Dustoff.”

“We will take them; Scooter come on down and take close cover”

“Roger” “Doberman to the right; I will take left”

“Roger” Liz headed down with Jake right behind her; her feeling was screaming at her now. She came in a little hot; around 40 knots, faster than she would have usually. 

Behind her Jake was watching for anything; she was going in a little fast. Then he saw it.

From a spider hole out popped an insurgent with a RPG. He was aiming for the lead Apache.   
“DOBERMAN RPG beneath you to the right!”

Liz heard that and firewalled everything as she banked hard to the left, pushing everything as far as she could.

Jake was aiming the 30 but he knew he could not hit him before he fired. Just as he did the Taliban fighter let go. The RPG whooshed out and an instant later he was in pieces as several 30MM rds tore him apart.

Liz kept it hard left everything; in her mind she could almost see him; he would be firing right for the belly of the bird; she had to move it away. The RPG would be affected by the downdraft but how much? All this was running through her mind as she worked her ship. She kept turning; and rolling. And rolling.

A helicopter, if it has rigid enough rotors, can do a barrel roll. Apaches have done that; in early testing it was done and there have been rumors of others. But they had all been flying high and over 100 knots when they did it. Not at 500 feet from the ground doing 40-50.

Ted had just enough time to think that Liz’s premonition was coming true when the chopper violently rolled left; and kept going; he could not believe it as he was on his side, then upside down; almost casually he saw the RPG round go past so close he did not know how it missed the rotors; then he was no longer on his side then upright. Liz had done a complete barrel roll.

Buzzers and warning lights lit up the cockpit like New Year’s Eve in Times Square. The Apache was letting Liz know it was NOT happy. She got it back upright and was still pulling away, then she eased off and slowed down, not wanting to make any sudden moves, not knowing if there was serious damage or not.

Jake had his mouth open staring up; she had done a barrel roll!

The rest of the company had finished their shooting and all were looking for Doberman. The two Blackhawks that were up several thousand feet had the best seats in the house.

“Doberman! What is your condition?”

“Scooter, not sure; got enough warning lights and buzzers to make Vegas look like nothing. Will check and let you know.”

Griffith managed to get back to work.

“OK people check the perimeter; there might be more; I want everyone over Angels 10 right now.”

Tense minutes ran by as everyone tried to look everywhere to make sure no one else was in the mood to try.

Liz had the Apache moving at about 30 knots at minimal power; checking everything. The lights went off and the buzzers got quiet. She took one more look and told Ted. “I think I just might have used up all my luck on this one. She seems OK.”  
“Well I need clean underwear.”

Liz smiled at that; the adrenaline was pumping through her system and she knew she had to control herself or let Ted take the stick. Taking deep breaths she calmed herself.

“Scooter, this is Doberman. I don’t know how, but I have a green board.” 

“Roger Doberman. Maintain position with reserve hawks.”

“Roger.” 

Only minutes later the Spec Ops called in for dust-off; down went 2nd platoon but this time there was no incoming. Looked like they had taken care of business. All four came down and the Spec Ops wasted no time coming out; in 10 minutes everyone was up and leaving.

“Doberman, remain on station with Hawks all the way in.”

“Roger.”

Liz knew that he wanted her near the reserve hawks just in case her Apache decided enough was enough. She was certainly not going to argue.

As it turned out, aboard one of the reserve hawks was a camera man; military not civilian media. They shot footage fairly often. Never knew when it might come in handy. By pure chance he had caught the whole thing pretty well.

Liz was needless to say very alert to any strange noises, vibrations or anything else out of the ordinary. But her Apache behaved itself all the way back to base.

Liz set her down and shut down. Then sat for a minute. Taking a deep breath she slowly got out to find the whole Company waiting. As one they all went down on their knees and Salaamed.

“WE’RE NOT WORTHY!”

Liz’s laughter peeled out and they got up and one by one gave her a hug. They all knew just how close they had come to losing one of their own.

Her crew chief came up. “LT, are they for real? Did you really do a slow speed barrel roll at 500 feet?”

Liz took a deep breath. “Yep.”

He just shook his head. “Well they are going to go over this bird with a fine toothed comb.”

The Debrief was very interesting. The Brigade Commander was present as was the Maintenance Chief and the Tech chief for Apache’s. They wanted her to go over everything five or six times. The normal debrief took an hour. This one took three.

“You just maintained even control?”

“Yes sir. I had reached a point where I felt it was more dangerous to try and right it and just kept the pattern going for a full roll. I was probably past 90 degrees at that point.”

Finally the Tech Chief went up to Liz and shook her hand.  
“Lt, the experts will say what you did was impossible at that altitude and speed. It’s a given no one has tried anything like that. Your personal guardian angel has got to be exhausted.”

“Sir, I think she will probably put in for a transfer.”

The Brigade Commander came up and shook her hand as well.  
“Well if she calls for advice I will tell her to cut and run.”

That night at dinner Griffith told her that they had it on film and even then they did not believe it. He told her that her bird was grounded pending a very thorough check. 

The Crew was waiting for her and all puppy piled her. She did not object at all. About half an hour later the Major came in.

“Parker, there is a guy here to see you and while normally I would run him off, I think he deserves to see you after the stunt you pulled today.”

Liz went to the main door and Max grabbed her hard. She let him and rested her chin on his chest.  
“Liz, I cannot believe what they said you did. That was beyond crazy. But I guess since it worked I cannot complain.”

“Max, it was crazy, but at the time it seemed the thing to do.”

He let her go and kissed her forehead. “Get some sleep, Liz.”

Then he walked out. Liz stood there for a moment with a very dopy grin on her face until the Crew grabbed her and pulled her back to their room. 

The Brigade Commander and many others were in the room as the film was shown. While the camera had been about a mile away, it had a zoom feature so that it looked like they were only a few hundred feet away. They saw just at the corner the Taliban stand up and the camera start to move his way; then he fired and just after that he was shredded by the 30MM. The Helicopter could be seen starting to bank; it started to climb while banking; then it kept banking until it was clear it was becoming a roll; then it kept on rolling, steadily, until it straightened up and continued to climb up and away. The cameraman could not follow it any more as it crossed past his view. But the roll was very well caught on film. It did not look frantic though it was fast.

The Brigade Commander looked at the 1st Battalion Commander.  
“The Factory reps want a complete work over of that bird. The early view is that it’s probably fine but everyone wants to look anyway.”

“Not surprising sir. Any idea how long that will take?”

“Several days probably.”

Liz took the word that her bird and she were grounded for a few days philosophically.   
“I guess I can catch up on my sleep some.”

After that she wandered down to the hanger; the rest of the company was out on a mission. So was the rest of the Battalion. The only bird in the hanger was hers. It was not in its bubble but in the middle of the floor with quite a number of people gathered around it.

She went up to Grunt who was on the outskirts of the crowd.  
“Quite a draw. Maybe we should sell tickets.”

“Could retire right now – and this is just the beginning. Just about every chopper tech in country is going to want to come here to look at this bird.”

“Well word from up above is that Boeing is sending a team here to look it over so it will be grounded for several days. Look at it this way; your guys can catch up on their sleep.”

“That is what they are doing right now. I told them to just hang out until called. Matter of fact I think I might do the same soon.”

“Why not chief; I think I will catch up on some sleep myself.”

“Next time you want to get some time off just put in a leave slip.”

She looked over to see the Battalion Commander standing there.  
“But would it have gotten approved?”

“Tell them this might happen again and I think it will.”

Liz grinned.

She wandered off again as it was clear the crowd was not going anywhere. Having a thought she went to see if Max was free. She went to the office of the contractor and low and behold he was there.

“Liz! What are you doing here?”

“My bird, and thus me, are grounded until Boeing sends a tech crew to look it over. Probably several days. You got any spare time?”

“As a matter of fact I do.”

There were not exactly any tourist areas at Bagram; so they ended up going to where the PX was and finding a seat at the little mall that had been going up gradually over time.

Liz realized that this was a chance to really talk and she looked at Max.   
“Is there somewhere quiet we can go and just talk?”

He thought for a minute then nodded. They walked back to his office and he grabbed a vehicle and they headed to the main post. There was a large conference room in the main HQ and it was pretty empty; it also had some very comfortable chairs.

“This is where VIPS come to get briefed. It’s not used very often.”

So they just sat there and talked for hours. Then they got something to eat and came back and talked for more. Finally they got dinner and she went back to her quarters and crashed.

He told her about his time in the corps, and after. He had been to a fair number of places both in the US and outside. She told him about her life in Worland, and then at Basic, Stewart, Iraq and Benning and Rucker.

They spent most of the next three days together just talking and walking. By the time the Battalion commander told her to be at a meeting they had really gotten to know each other very well. Max had to do a few things now and then; so Liz caught up on her laundry and sent out emails to everyone. And got some real sleep.

Liz sat in the meeting with the Boeing tech team.

“From everything we can tell, there is no damage. All systems check out and nothing looks bent or stressed.”

He then looked at her and asked her to go through the whole thing, which Liz did.

Finally they signed off the bird as being fully operational.

The Battalion commander told her that she was back on duty and on flight status the next day.

The next morning she ran into Ted.  
“What have you been doing?”

“Sleeping.”

Word of Liz’s maneuver had begun to trickle out as people told people and phone calls and emails went out. It was a hell of a story so it began to attract attention. Two days after it a media rep contacted the Brigade PR officer.   
“We have heard that someone barrel rolled an Apache at low speed and altitude and got away with it.”

The PR officer had been told to not deny it but to not call attention to it.  
“An Apache did an extreme maneuver to avoid a RPG fired at it.”

And that was all he would say.

More media heard of it; many hearing it second and third hand as Aviation forums gave it great play. No one would identify who did it; but even that began to leak out. 5 days after it, a day after Liz went back on flight status another Media person confronted the Brigade PR officer.  
“We have heard it was done by the only female Apache pilot in country.”

Trapped the PR officer did the only thing he could do beyond no comment. “That is correct.”

The story probably would have garnered little more attention if the film had not gotten out. How that happened was something that triggered a full investigation but no one was ever brought up on charges, though the film was much better secured after this.

Someone made a digital copy and found a way to get it out of country. It was thought that someone made a DVD and it got to Fox the day after one of their reporters confirmed Lt Elizabeth Parker as the pilot who found a new way to avoid an RPG. 

“This is Fox News Tonight. We have some incredible footage to show you from the war on Terror in Afghanistan. One of the chief weapons used against Al Qaeda and the Taliban is the AH-64D Apache Attack Helicopter. It is the most heavily armed attack helicopter in the world and it is on the front lines of the fight every day. Needless to say the Taliban hate and fear it; and try everything to shoot one down no matter what the cost. Well we have footage taken by a military cameraman who just happened to be in the right time and the right place for something extraordinary. Now we want to warn you that part of this footage is grisly. We debated editing it and decided not to. So if there are young children watching this now we advise their parents to change the channel.

The 1st Battalion of the 101st aviation Brigade, part of the 101st Airborne Division, known as the Screaming Eagles, the division that held Bastogne in WW2 at the Battle of the Bulge; the division that one unit had the incredible mini-series Band of Brothers made about, is a battalion that has 24 AH-64D Longbow Apache’s, the most advanced model. Company A of that battalion was involved in an operation after suspected Taliban commanders in a small village in Afghanistan. The normal procedure is that the Special Forces come in Blackhawk helicopters and make their attack while the Apache’s hover nearby to give them cover fire. They usually are about 500 of so feet up moving slowly as long as the Blackhawks are on the ground.

Now a word here. There are some maneuvers that are rather easily done by fixed wing aircraft that are very difficult if not impossible to do by helicopters because of how they work.  
You are about to see one.  
The cameraman from what we have been told just happened to be on this side of the helicopter that was part of the reserves that waited to be called if needed. So it was by pure luck that this was caught on film. You see this helicopter going low to make sure there is no one getting close to the Blackhawk’s on the ground. At just about this time some enemy soldiers were spotted and you can see those Apache’s firing on them. More showed up so that the high cover platoon was called down to help out. You see this one coming down quickly to assist; and right THERE (freezing the film) you see a Taliban fighter coming out of a hole to fire an RPG, a rocket propelled grenade normally used for fighting tanks and armored vehicles, and if he can hit an Apache it will almost certainly destroy it and kill the crew. One of the other Apache’s spot the fighter and warn the Apache being targeted (Film unfreezes) you see him firing and the other Apache hitting him with 30MM which disintegrates him and there you see the Apache banking away and beginning to roll; and it continues to roll and does a complete Barrel roll at a slow speed and low altitude and that is where you last see the Apache as the RPG just misses it and it finishes the barrel roll. And it kept right on going and made it back to base and after a careful inspection it is flying again. What is even more remarkable about this incident is that the pilot is the Only Woman pilot flying an Apache in Afghanistan, Lt Elizabeth Parker of Worland Wyoming. Lt Parker is not unknown to those who have followed the war on terror. She was the first and so far only woman to have been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for heroism in combat in a battle in Iraq in 2003. She was also credited with the probable saving of the life of Congressman…  
And so on it went. Giving an update basically on Liz’s life in the military.

In an apartment in Athens Georgia, where three juniors attending the University of Georgia are sitting watch Fox news as they do most nights, looks are exchanged between three very shocked young women.

Nancy Parker also happened to be watching Fox News and sat stunned and shocked. Ted was right next to her as he was most nights and he held her as she shook and cried. Finally settling down. “God, how close can she get and still get away?”

The Congressman was not watching that night but one of his staff was and let him know. He looked at the footage and shook his head. 

Liz found out the next day because as with most US Military bases they show Fox News if they can. Several of the pilots told her then she got a call from Battalion.  
“Lt Parker the newsies want to talk to you.”

“Well I do not want to talk to them.”

“Understandable. At this time that is still your prerogative. The general may think differently. They really poured it on about you last night.”

Liz hung up and shook her head and looked at Winston.  
“Get me up in the air, boss, that is safer than being here hunted by newsies.”

Now a bunch of reporters had the Brigade PR officer under heavy fire wanting to talk to Lt Parker.   
“She does not wish to talk to reporters.”

Frustrated they then went to something a couple of them had found out and spread around.  
“Sometime before this we heard that there was a mission that lasted longer than it was supposed to and she was the last helicopter to land and she ran out of fuel. Is this true?”

“Yes. The mission ran over long and she was the last one to land. Just as she set down her engines quit from running out of fuel.”

“Why was she the last to land?”

“She was the last to leave the combat scene.”

“Why was she the last to leave?”

The PR officer prayed for strength.

“If you take ten different helicopters all of the same model and give them all the same fuel, you would have all of them run out of fuel at different times. Some are slightly more efficient than others; some pilots fly more economically then others. On that mission she was the last to leave the scene because she was able to stretch her fuel supply slightly better than any of the other pilots. She stayed to give cover fire to the last helicopter evacuating wounded Special Forces personnel.”  
He stopped and realized he had just given the monster more meat.

“That is all for today” and got out of there.

The Brigade commander gave him a look. “Yes sir I know I should have told them less.”

“Well I think we no longer have any choice. Despite her very justifiable feelings on the matter, she will have to meet with them.”

“Yes sir. BDU’s or class A’s?”

“Normally I would say BDU’s but in this case since the monster wants to be fed badly have her come in Class A. I am saying this because I know that is what Washington will tell us to do.”

Hours later he would have that confirmed.

“I have to do WHAT?”

“Liz, I hate it too but this comes from the Pentagon.”

“But in Class A? In the warzone its always BDU! I did not bring one.”

He blinked at that. “Well that is good. Maybe we can delay it; or let you do it in BDU. Will have to tell brigade.”

“She did not bring one?”

“Well sir it’s a war zone.”

“Well that is good. We can tell the Pentagon it will have to be good ol BDU.”

“Yes sir.” He hung up and looked at his PR officer.  
“You are to call Germany and have one flown in special tonight for a Press conference tomorrow evening that will be shown live in the US; it will be midnight here and shown at 3PM Friday in the east.”

Liz stared at him then shook her head and then gave her measurements. She walked out of the Brigade commanders HQ and got in a vehicle waiting to take her back to the flight line.

Winston looked at her; then again. “What is it this time?

Liz looked at him in disgust. “I just gave my measurements to a Major General in Germany. He will make sure a class A uniform gets here tomorrow in time for a midnight press conference where I will get an Air Medal and then talk to the reporters. It’s timed for 3PM Friday afternoon in the US.”

He blinked and shook his head. “Man, this is out of control.”

Liz went back to her quarters and lay on her bed staring up at the roof. The Crew came in and saw her laying like that. They looked at each other then sat down next to her.  
Jess said softly. “Liz?” No reaction. “Liz?” a little louder. Finally she turned her head and looked at them.  
“What is it?”

“Liz something is wrong. Tell us?”

So she did.

They agreed she had a right to be dazed and confused. 

The PR officer went over how to go about it.  
“Just think your answers through. Speak steadily and carefully. Right now they love you but they can turn on you in a heartbeat and tear you to pieces. Remember what they did to Jessica Lynch and she had done nothing wrong.”

She had a couple of hours before the uniform was due to arrive and she went and hid in Max’s office.  
Max was worried about Liz; all this attention had made her go into a shell.  
“Liz, none of this is your fault. You just happen to go through some very extraordinary events.”

“So do lots of soldiers and they never get one percent of what I am getting.”

Winston and Griffith were talking to Ted Dugan.  
“Liz is getting very depressed over all of this. She hates it and thinks people will begin to believe she is hunting for glory. Becoming a showoff.”

“No one here believes that. Every bit of recognition she is getting she has earned.” 

“I am just worried about her.”

The two officers looked at each other. Winston looked thoughtful.  
“Word is that we will probably be grounded tomorrow, right?”

“Weather pretty much confirmed that an hour ago. That is why we were not flying today. Winds are too high and that storm will be in tonight. That plane bringing her uniform will get in just before it hits. Probably will not be flying Saturday either.”

“OK. This is the first real break we have been able to count on since we got here 5 months ago. It’s time for a party; everyone can blow off some steam. Let’s talk to Battalion and make sure that everyone is at the party that we will throw right after the press conference. We can let it go till dawn and then let everyone sleep it off tomorrow. We can then make sure that Liz knows that everyone that matters knows the score. We can get some of the Spec Ops guys here as well. Maybe that guy that was wounded. He can thank her personally. That should get her back to normal; if anything could.” 

So out went the word. Having a blowout is a good idea in most times; being able to have one when in the middle of a combat zone is even more desirable and important. Ted went looking for Max and found him and let him know.

Winston called up the Spec Ops guys and told them a party was coming and to bring their guys; and especially the ones that Liz had saved that day. He told them that she was depressed and afraid people would thing she was a glory hound and all stuck up. They told him they would be there.

The Brigade Commander thought it was a great idea for all of the people who had been working their tails off for months.

The uniform had been delivered and Liz had it on while the Crew worked on her and primped her. When they were done they all looked at her and agreed she looked fine.  
Jesse spoke for all of them.  
“Liz you are a hero. Just as much as anyone is. You have been there and done that. You have as much a right as anyone to get honored. And let’s be honest girl; you have a fair amount of fruit salad there.”

Liz looked at the clock and saw that it was 2300. They all trooped out the door and Liz found a Staff car waiting for her.

Liz had emailed her mother and let her know about the press conference; so Nancy was at home watching.

Maria, Isabelle and Tess cut class. They were watching.

At least one congressman in DC was watching.

So were a lot of other people.

Liz stood ready in a room next to the main press room. The PR officer was right beside her as was Winston and Griffith and Dugan. Liz looked around her and smiled slightly, Winston noticed.  
“Liz if you got a joke handy now is the time to use it.”

She smiled and relaxed a little.  
“Well look at me; the only one in Class A except the General and a couple others. And look how short I am. And how tall just about everyone else is.”

The General walked up to the Mikes in Class A.  
“We have a small ceremony first then there will be a Press Briefing with Lt Parker.”

Liz marched in with the others and stood at attention. The general moved forward. The PR officer read Liz’s commendation

“On March 23, 2008, while flying cover for a Special Operations mission, Lt Elizabeth Parker by flying extremely efficiently was able to stay on station after all other AH-64 Apaches had to leave to return to base and give critical covering fire as wounded Spec Ops soldiers were evacuated. She returned to base only to have her aircraft run out of fuel exactly as she landed.” 

“LT Elizabeth Parker.” Liz stepped forward and saluted the General. He returned the salute then picked up the Medal and pinned it on her. Then they exchanged Salutes and she returned to the line.

The General then moved to the Microphones.  
“I am certain that Lt Parker would rather be flying in combat than at this press conference but here she is.”

Liz moved to the mic and the PR Officer moved to her side. He picked out a reporter.  
“Lt Parker, when you made that very difficult maneuver, why did you do it?”

“I got warning from my wingman that a RPG was about to be fired at me from below and to the right. I banked left, throttle wide open, and rammed the collective to the left. I kept rolling, looking to my right and I saw the RPG just miss the rotors as it went by. By that time I was past 90 degrees and made the judgment call that correcting was more dangerous than continuing the roll. I completed one revolution and straightened out continuing to climb while I tried to sort out all the warning lights and buzzers going off. What I did was not in the book and the aircraft let me know about that in no uncertain terms. By the grace of God my aircraft was not damaged and it got us back to base in one piece.”

“Lt Parker, the operation during which you just received the Air Medal; what did you do that allowed you to use less fuel?”

“I have what I think is the best crew Chief, Sergeant Gunt, and the best ground crew in the Brigade. He keeps my ship at peak efficiency, which is pretty hard in the dust and sand here in Afghanistan. That is a large part of the reason. Many pilots relax flying in, so as to save their energy for the fight and flight back. When at the edge of range as we were on that mission, I try and concentrate and fly as carefully as possible so as to use as little fuel as possible. And of course it helps to be as small and light as I am. That 100 less or so pounds does count as well.”

“LT Parker, what is it like being the only female in an Apache Battalion?”

“Well, there never is a line outside the Ladies Room.”

That got a big laugh.

And around the nation.

She took a few more questions about what it was like in Afghanistan and so on and then the PR Officer ended it and Liz marched out with the rest of them. 

Nancy smiled through her tears. “That’s my girl.”

Three tearful girls in Georgia hugged each other.

A congressman in DC nodded and smiled.

Max was waiting for her back at her barracks and proceeded to kiss her senseless while her roomies cheered. Liz slowly let go and then blushed rosily. She smiled at him.   
“I do not want to wear this thing any longer. I will change back to normal and then let’s hit the party.”

The party finally ended at 0600 and everyone wandered back to their rooms. Liz was slightly gassed as was everyone else. So they all staggered to their rooms and passed out. Sometime in the afternoon every aspirin available was consumed and people slowly dragged themselves out to groan and recover.

Liz got something to eat then went back to the barracks and took a long shower. Then headed back to her room. The Crew was all laying down as well. They just lay there and finally they all drifted off. She woke up at 0500 the next morning and listened; the wind was still whistling which meant no flight ops. She went back to sleep before waking up for good at 0700.

Saturday was a miserable day as Friday had been and outside of eating everyone stayed in their barracks. That gave Liz and the others time to talk.

Jesse started it off; she talked about her home in Illinois not far from Chicago. And how she was looking to get out and get into commercial aviation. Ellen talked about growing up in Seattle, and how she was also looking at aviation as a career after the military. Vicki was thinking of going to college when she got out; she was happy to get out of Detroit and did not want to go back. When they asked Liz for her plans, she smiled.  
“Stay in as long as they let me fly; then go into some kind of flying job afterwards. Not sure where I want to go for that; probably out west somewhere; but NOT Wyoming. I liked Colorado and the mountains; so probably somewhere around there if possible.”

Ellen looked thoughtful. “Liz, not to remind you of what you don’t like, but here is the deal. You can just about write your own ticket in the US Army. You are probably going to end up as one of the most decorated Officers to come out of this war. You will be able to stay in as long as you want. Now as regards flying you will make Captain next year without a doubt and get a company. In another year Major and get a battalion or at least be an XO. They will push you to take college courses; because you look great and as that press conference showed you can do them as well as you fly. You will make Lt Colonel at least and probably full Bird. And that is if you do nothing more spectacular from now on. Which judging from your past will not happen? That is what I see. Do any of you disagree?”

They all shook their heads. Liz stared at her blankly.  
“Wow.”

The Brigade Commander was talking to his PR officer.  
“The PR weanies in DC loved her. Universally.”

“She did a whole lot better than I thought she would. She is a natural; they do not scare her.”

“Considering her career, that is not a surprise. She has a real future if she wants it.”

“Frankly sir, it’s up to the Army to make sure she wants to stay in. We need more like her and never have enough.”

“That is a fact.”

“Sir you wanted to see me?”

“I want you to talk to some people. I want to know what Elizabeth Parker would need to do to make it as a career in the US Army. I know moving beyond Major is tough for any officer without a degree. Frankly she shows that is moronic. This idea that people MUST have a degree to get anywhere high up on the ladder is truly stupid. She damn well ought to make full colonel at least before she retires. She is just coming up on 25 and will be a captain early next year before she is 26. With her record and accomplishments and smarts and poise, there is no excuse for pushing her out just because she did not waste four years somewhere


	7. Keep your head Down

They were flying again by Sunday as the storm blew out and cleared out the weather; it was clear and very nice.

Over the next week there was not much going on; the Taliban seemed to have gone into hiding for a while and very little action was seen.

“Sir I have that report you asked for about what Lt Parker should do.”

“Well?”

“The military personnel men I spoke to were embarrassed; they admitted as long as they were not named that she would almost certainly be stopped at Major. The Degree part is so ingrained that nothing she could do would get her past Major if she does not take off several years and get a degree. Promotion boards would not pass her; the regulations have procedures for exceptions but they are ignored. She would not be the first case of someone with extraordinary ability thrown out for not being able to show a diploma.”

The congressman slowly nodded; his face carefully blank. His aide knew that he put on that face when he was VERY angry.

“I want those examples in detail. Then the new secretary of Defense and I will be having a talk.”

Liz stretched and headed for the shower. For some reason she felt especially good that morning. She did not know why. They were due for another escort mission that day; the Brits had gotten their Apache’s operational again so the load had lightened on 1st Battalion. So they were holding steady at no more than one mission a day. In the month since the award ceremony things had gone pretty well. One of the Blackhawks from 6 Battalion had been shot down; but no one was killed. One was seriously wounded but would recover. It was now the middle of May and it was getting hot. They were almost at the half way of their 15 month deployment; if there were no holdups they would be back in the US by March of 2009. Scooter had just gotten his promotion and was now Captain. Griffith would soon get his oak leafs and step up to take the Battalion XO position. He would try to stay in the cockpit but that was a losing battle against the job and paperwork. Winston had told Liz she would be taking over 1st Platoon while he took over 2nd Platoon and the company. He told her that he figured she would get her railroad tracks before they left Afghanistan. Liz liked that in one stance because promotion was always nice; but on the other hand it took her one step closer to not flying all the time.

Then she thought of Max and a goofy smile came over her face as she padded back to her room. Jesse looked up as she came into the room and laughed.  
“Liz has Max face.”

The others laughed and Liz blushed.

Liz had quietly admitted that she had fallen hard for Max. And he seemed to feel the same way. He was looking to make sure that he was done in Afghanistan the same time she was. He made it plain that he would be going back to the US and looking for a job around Ft Campbell. Liz smiled again when she thought of the quiet but firm way he had made that clear; and how he had kissed her after it. She had written a letter to Isabelle.   
Isabelle read the letter to the others. When she was done they all were quiet for a while. Maria finally stirred.  
“At last Liz is living.”

Isabelle nodded. “I told my parents that Max is looking at coming back to the US once and for all and that it’s because of Liz. They have wanted him to settle down for so long.”

The lull in combat did not last all that long. Starting in June the Taliban began to push and cause trouble. They had been quietly building up strength in other parts of the country and the coalition began to realize that. It had been decided to bring in more US troops and air power. More Special Operations forces as well. More search and destroy missions began to happen.

The Apache’s began to start seeing multiple missions a day again after a few months lapse. Which put more of a strain on Pilots, copilots, the choppers and the ground crews. The only good news was that they were all experienced so that made a difference.

Liz really did not like the summers here. VERY hot and dusty and dry and generally miserable. They got some swamp coolers for the hangers; when it was really dry they did help. The only problem was they also introduced humidity to the aircraft. But overall most agreed it was worth it. When it got over 110 degrees inside the hangers, the coolers would get it down to 85 in the bubbles, which made it bearable.

Spec Ops started a campaign in an area about half an hours flight from Bagram and they began to need a lot of backup from the Apache’s. The Taliban had started trying to use civilians as human shields; and that made things a lot harder. It began to reach a point where the Apache’s had to use the 30MM more and more as it was the only weapon precise enough to take out the Taliban without killing the civilians they were hiding behind. Problem with that is that to be sure the Apache’s had to get closer. Rules were to stay at no lower than 500 feet; and usually at least 7-800 so that RPG’s would not have the range to hit them. That was the only weapon that really was a threat to an apache. The Blackhawks were of course much more vulnerable and the Taliban began to try and take them down instead of the much tougher and more dangerous Apache’s.

Liz of course did not know of a private meeting with the new SECDEF that the Congressman had arranged.

He had given the SECDEF the report that had made him so very angry.

The SECDEF quickly read it and sighed.  
“This is not exactly a surprise.”

“Each of those officers chased out by this stupidity is worth 100 of those ticket punchers out of any college.”

“I will not argue, Congressman. But that is the system.”

“Then change it. I do not see where it generates better officers than the old system did. On the surface they might look more polished; but underneath where it counts they are mostly empty suits. This system has been built to prevent any mavericks, any real gifted different types from ever getting anywhere. Cookie cutter sounds nice and neat but this current generation of Generals and Admirals come from that system and frankly Mr. Secretary they do not look like much and have not impressed anyone. And the more junior generals are even worse. I would say maybe one out of ten show real ability. The rest of them are nothing special at all. This country deserves better; the soldiers and sailors and airmen and Marines deserve better.”

“What would you have me do?”

“Well here is what I propose.”

General Davidson was going to retire soon; he had been passed over for his third star and was getting out. Or he was. 

‘The Secretary of Defense proposed and congress has approved, a new type of promotion board. It will go over those rejected for promotions and see if there are those that have ability that the system refuses to reward. This will be at the Lt Colonel level and above. Its recommendations will go straight to the Secretary of Defense, bypassing all services. These officers will most likely be mavericks or those that have not played the political game that is required so much to get promoted in the modern military. It has been remarked many times over the last decade or so that a soldier like Patton, a sailor like Bill Halsey or Hyman Rickover, a Marine Like Chesty Puller, a pilot like Billy Mitchell would never reach high rank in the modern military. This new promotion board would try and see to it that those exceptions are not lost. And also would try and force the rest of the military establishment to recognize the need for the occasional maverick and trouble maker’

General William Davidson, current commander of the 101st Airborne; had been due to retire after getting passed over. But the new promotion board; called by some the maverick board, recommended his promotion and it was approved by the President and Congress. It will remain to be seen if this starts to change the status quo. 

It was now July and the summer was at its peak. Temperatures were regularly over 110 degrees. Liz and the others were very grateful that the barracks had A/C. But that also meant that operations on the ground required more water and supplies; thus resupply flights to the FOB’s increased. The Taliban was trying to make life as difficult as possible at the FOBs; while the alliance was trying to search out and destroy the Taliban strongholds. It was a back and forth struggle.

It was usual procedure to have one platoon cover a resupply flight. 4 Apaches escorting 4 Chinooks. This day it was 1st platoon and 4 Chinooks from 7th Battalion bringing in a week’s supply for the FOB. 2 Apache’s on either side as they came in. Since they landed in the middle of the FOB, it was not necessary for the Apache’s to come in close for cover. They would stay at about 1000 feet keeping an eye on things. The biggest threat would be an infiltrating Taliban suicide fighter, hiding with an RPG to fire at one of the Helicopters as it landed. 

Liz and Jake were on one side with Ed and Ken on the other. Things looked calm until the Chinooks were just about to land. Right then 4 figures appeared and had RPGs. But they were spotted as soon as they moved and were targeted by the 30MM from each of the Apache’s. Only one got off a shot before being shredded and he missed, luckily. 

“Let’s get down to Angels 5 people; that are probably all there is but let’s make sure.”

But nothing more happened. Some troopers from the FOB went over to see if they could salvage any of the RPG’s but that was it. In half an hour the Chinooks were unloaded and taking off. The flight back was uneventful. Liz had not done anything but fly; Ted had fired the 30MM. Procedures had been set up for who shot at what between the aircraft; which was good. If there had been any hesitation one or more of the Taliban suicide squad would have been able to fire accurately at the Chinooks. 

Liz was very surprised when the Brigade Commander had her talk to some of the women of the brigade who were currently enlisted but wanted to become pilots. The Battalion commander reminded her that that was the route she had taken.

“OK. You are here because you have an interest in becoming a pilot. To start with, is that a chopper pilot or fixed wing or you do not care just be a pilot. Raise your hands for Chopper only. Now Fixed wing only. Now either. OK. To start with you also need to consider if you want to do 20 years. If that is the case I have advice for you: DO NOT BECOME AN OFFICER.”

Liz rather enjoyed the looks that got.  
“Surprised you? Well that is a realization that I only came to in the last year. If I had to do it over again I would have gone to WOCS instead of OCS. Once you are an officer you are at the mercy of the education prejudice. Which means whether you want to or not; you have to go to college. Studying subjects that have very little if anything to do with being an officer. If you do not you will be gone at the level of Major. No Higher. And that means at 12-15 years you are out. No Pension. Now if you become WO’s, you can get in your 20 and better yet you can stay doing what you want to do most. I would love it if I could spend my next 13 years in the military flying Apache’s, or flying in general. BUT I will not. I am probably going to get my Captain’s Bars in the next few months; then I have about 3 years before I can probably become a Major. Another three years and unless I am in college going for a decree I will be out. No matter what I have accomplished in the Military. So there I will be, 31, former Major with a fair amount of experience having to do something else. The best I could do as regards flying is stay with the National Guard. But I will need a job outside that. Lots of crap to deal with. So that is why I am telling you all that no matter what you want, if you want to do 20 active do not become an officer unless you want to go to college. If you do then no problem. But the pressure will stay on even if you get your degree; then they will expect you to get a masters in SOMETHING. DOES NOT MATTER WHAT IT IS. Now for me I will probably in the end break down and do the dance they want me to do despite having no wish at all to go to college; despite the FACT that it will have little if any bearing on what I do in the military. I could get a degree in Art History and then a Master there and they would be happy because I punched the ticket that they demand be punched. So think about it, Ladies. Think and plan.”

The Major from her barracks had sat in quietly; later on she was talking to the brigade commander and told her what Liz had said.

He sighed. “Not like she was not being brutally honest with them.”

The Major was quiet. “My major is in Literary History.”

He looked at her. “Oh.”

“I am sure she did not know that but her point remains valid. I will probably get promoted to Lt Colonel and if I get my masters there I probably have a good shot at full bird. Mainly because I have that degree. I have nowhere near the record Lt Parker has and will not get near it either. Yet she will hit the ceiling at Major. And I will not.”

“So if you were being brutally honest you would have said the same thing.”

“Yes sir. But I would not have been that honest with them because I would have worried about it getting out and being used against me later on.”

The Brigade commander thought about that for a while then requested Lt Parker see him.

Liz sat before him, willing to bet it was about what she had said at that meeting.

He looked at the young woman in front of him; very composed, yet so young. 

“Your statements to those young women; they were not exactly complimentary to the US Army.”

“Was not meant to be sir. I was told to advise them. I gave them the most valid advice I had. If you do not want that sir then do not send me again. My message will not change. Can you honestly disagree with what I said?”

“No, I cannot. It is not something I think about; many of us do not think about it. It is just the way the system is.” He sighed.  
“Well, not to change the subject but your promotion to Captain will be through in the next month. Major Griffith will be going to 1st Battalion XO, and Captain Winston will take over as 1st Company CO. You will take over as commander of 1st Platoon. Which I am sure is no surprise to you.”

“No sir.”

Liz went back to the barracks thinking about things. Her promotion to Captain was nice, but in the grand scheme of things just meant she was closer to having to decide whether to bow down to the system or not. There were no subjects in college that she really wanted to study. She had thought about it; but the interest was just not there. She felt that unless she really was interested it was a waste of time and she really hated wasting time. Especially four years of it.

The next week was the busiest yet for the Apache drivers. For 6 straight days they did two missions a day. The Taliban was more and more trying to go after the supply and personnel choppers – as they did most of the work.

On the fourth day, the first mission in the morning the 101st Aviation brigade had their first KIA. Liz was guiltily lucky that it was B Company that was escorting a strike mission and they were the ones that lost a Blackhawk to a 12.7MM MG in a hidden position that fired right into the cockpit as it landed; it rolled over and burned. The Pilot was killed and the copilot badly burned. The four passengers were injured but not badly. The Apache’s hosed the entire area and the backup Blackhawk pulled the injured out. They were unable to get the pilot out of the Hawk and in a very tough decision the Mission commander ordered the burning Blackhawk destroyed with multiple Hellfire hits. They would not try and recover the body due to where the target was. And they wanted to make sure that the Taliban was unable to get any trophies.

Liz and the rest of the Brigade were very depressed that night. She and A company had had what were comparatively easy milk runs that day; had not had to fire much at all. They quietly sat around that night. Liz was with the Crew; the WO officer killed had been in the 5th Battalion. Liz knew him; but had not known him well. 

After a while Liz called Max and he came over and got her and they walked around; it was hot but by 2100 it was not too bad. And they talked.  
“I feel guilty because I am glad I was not on that mission.”

Max hugged her. “That is just being human, Liz. Nothing to be ashamed of.”

Liz found that being with Max just seemed so right. They fit.

The Brigade had little chance to mourn their loss as missions kept up for three more days before weather was bad enough –windy enough- to ground them. They all needed the rest by then.

But the next day the winds died down and they were out again. Command had put into motion a sustained campaign of going after the Taliban wherever they were; deeper and deeper into their controlled or semi controlled areas.

Company A had gotten the reputation of never having lost anyone while they were the escort. Liz and the others fought very hard to keep that up. Her Promotion had officially come through and Liz was now a Captain. And 1st Platoon commander. Which was unusual as most platoons had a Lt as commander and some even had a WO. Blackhawks tended to have more officers then the other lighter helicopters. She was also company XO now and that meant more paperwork. With the multiple missions per day and now more paperwork it was all Liz could do to keep up. Being very organized helped but it was still a more than full load.

The end of August found the first hints of cooler weather which they all welcomed; but it was also when both command and the Taliban stepped up efforts to do in the other. They still had 6 months left on this tour; which seemed forever.

More and more they were doing pre-dawn raids; without any air strikes first. Trying to swoop in and catch the Taliban by surprise. The alliance had the advantage there since there were lots of places that could be attacked and none of them knew when the Birds of Prey would come calling.

The Special Forces commander looked over the mission plan.  
“This could be a fairly hot one. If one of the top dogs is there, they will have a fair number of bodyguards. Might even have some serious firepower for them. Beyond the RPGs or 12.7’s. Might have one of those 23MM there.”

“Possibly sir. He is the third in command overall and no doubt the area commander.”

“Well guys the good news is that this is the only mission for today. The bad news is that it could be a hairy one. Command thinks that the Taliban area commander is at this site; and he is third in command of the entire Taliban. So getting him would be a real fist in the nose of the Taliban. But that also means that he is probably going to have some fairly serious protection. As is the pattern anymore, the Taliban are making sure that there are plenty of civilians around. Many not by choice. They are going to villages and taking the entire village hostage then moving them to where their operations are. Hoping that we will kill a bunch of them while they hide behind them; making us look like the bad guys in the international press. So here is how we are going to skin this cat:  
Company A will be the close escort; the whole company down on the deck. Company B will be the high escort and reserve. The Hawks will come in with the Apache’s right beside them; move in as fast as possible and hit them hard. Rules of engagement are as follows; 30MM only unless you see a bunker or dug in position that the 30 cannot get to. Then it is Hellfire. You are not to use your 2.75’s; which is pretty much standard anymore but I got the Battalion commander to buy off with not even bringing them and having two external fuel tanks instead. So we will have more time. It’s going to take about 60 minutes to get there; it’s very close to the Pakistan border. Which is another reason for no 2.75’s; one could go wild and go across the border and cause all sorts of hurt feelings over there. Furthermore we are going low this time; 300 feet. And maybe lower depending on the situation. So you will have to keep a special eye out for RPGs. Spec Ops are taking 8 Hawks in; they are going to flood that village. 4 hawks will be in reserve. Get ready people.”

Liz did her preflight check; it was routine and she had never found a problem but that was something you never skimped on. It takes about half an hour if you do it right and Liz always did. Ted was right beside her; 4 eyes looking beats two anytime. Liz reflected that she put in her latest Eval of Ted that he was fully qualified and ready to move up to Pilot. He would probably step in if they lost anyone. She checked the auxiliary fuel tanks as the last thing on her check list. It was procedure that you took off on internal and then switched to external afterwards, but Liz chose to take off on External. She liked to save the internal fuel to the last. In some ground trials she had found that just before the auxiliary fuel tank was dry you would have a fluctuation in fuel pressure; and so she made it a point to take every gallon out she could. It was a little more risky but she felt that extra time could be vital; after all it had already happened once to her. That would give her maybe twenty or more gallons out of each tank more than most pilots took. That meant from both tanks a total of an extra twenty minutes flight time. You never knew how much you would need. The mission profile showed that you had to figure at least 70 minutes (counting safety margin) there and back; and at least 1 hour at the site. Even the Blackhawks would have an auxiliary tank this time. They used more fuel due to the high altitude anyway. And any full power moves sucked it right down.

They took off at 0500, pitch dark. They were due to hit the site at 0600, just before dawn. One good thing about where the target was that since it was up a little bit they could fly low and come up; which would mask their sound some. Anything to keep the enemy from finding out that they were about to be visited as long as possible.

“Target in 5 mikes.”

“Roger”

Everyone tightened up; Liz was happy to see the fuel fluctuation just at that minute; she could switch over to the other tank now. That unbalanced the apache but not enough to really matter. This meant that she could use up the other auxiliary and over one third of her internal and still make it back to the base. They moved in; it was just starting to get light enough to see. Perfect timing.

1st Platoon was out to the right; Liz in lead; 2nd platoon was to the left, Scooter in lead. Spread out and watching as the hawks bored in. Then they were down and the Spec ops were pouring out and heading into the village. She could see the first Taliban coming out of houses and shooting and getting taken out by the ground pounders. So far so good- total surprise. They hovered right at 300 feet, watching everything for anything. The minutes went by and the Spec Ops got further into the village. Company B then moved over the village at 1000 feet and watched for anyone trying to run or have a vehicle. Not likely there but you never knew. Most likely possibility was someone with a horse trying to get away. The Blackhawks had taken off and were hovering at 1500; waiting to be called for extraction. There were over 80 Spec Ops going into that village; quite a force. They almost certainly outnumbered anyone there.

Inside the village they were indeed getting it done. But it was not as fast as hoped. Clearly these were some of the best fighters the Taliban had left; they used cover well and kept up a high rate of fire. But 40MM HE usually got the job done. House by house the Spec Ops troopers gradually decimated the insurgents. So far only a few civilians had been encountered and as far as they could tell they hadn’t shot any.

Unknown to the Spec Ops commander a small group had been in an underground hole; like a large spider hole. 8 Taliban were waiting until the Helicopters came back. There were a group of spec ops holding the landing site but they could not see what could not be seen.

The Taliban commander realized that he would not escape and decided to try and take some of the infidels with him. With explosive charges strapped to them he and his remaining body guards charged. The remainder of his men firing all their weapons as cover.

This sort of tactic was not new; and the Spec Ops ground commander had been expecting it. But being ready for it did not always mean that you could beat it. This time they did not have the needed extra luck.

All four were able to detonate; two did not do anything but shred themselves and some of the remaining fighters. But two of them got close enough and a building collapsed from the blast; and several Spec Ops soldiers were hit.

Everyone could see the explosions. So they waited.

“Eagle Assault; need dustoff for Whiskey India Alphas.”

“Roger”

2 Blackhawk’s came in; Company A came even lower. Almost by instinct.

Several soldiers were being carried by others; there looked to be 6 wounded. They were quickly loaded in one of the Blackhawks and it took off; headed for base. The other went with it as escort, along with a B company Apache.

Meanwhile soldiers were desperately digging in the collapsed house; three were trapped in the rubble.

“Bearcats spread out- eyes open- check area”

Just in case someone else was looking to join in the fight Company B was going to make sure they found them first.

Minutes went by. 

Finally they got the trapped men out; luckily not badly injured.

“Spectre Lead- reaching Bingo Status. Will RTB. You have status.”

“Roger Bearcat Lead”

Liz checked her fuel status; Bearcat had been using more fuel moving around; they could stay for another 20 minutes.

“Doberman, get down on the deck. They should be pulling out soon.”

“Roger Scooter.”

Liz led her four Apache’s down to 100 feet; minimum distance before they kicked up too much dust to see.

“Eagle Assault- full dustoff.”

The remaining 6 Blackhawks headed down. Liz called in.  
“OK people, look sharp.”

The Spec ops started pouring out of the village. Heading towards the Blackhawks that were landing.

It was then that the hidden Taliban came out of their holes and started firing at the Blackhawks. They thankfully did not have anything other than their AK 47’s but at close range they could do damage.

The Spec Ops reacted immediately and quickly cut them down but not before two Blackhawks started to smoke.

“Eagle Assault; what is your status this is Spectre Lead.”

“Spectre lead two hawks down.”

Liz groaned. There was no way they could get all the spec ops out on 4 choppers. She was rather guiltily glad that none of her roomies were down there. She checked her fuel status. Then called her wingmen for fuel status. She had the most left; she had 35 minutes before going back. The others had 20.

Scooter was furiously thinking. They had about a dozen spec ops left that could not be taken by the Blackhawks. It would take at least an hour to get any from Bagram. Unless there was someone in the air they were screwed. He made the call to base.

“Spectre Lead to Control- we need extra transport ASAP.”

“Roger Spectre will advise.”

Liz thought hard. If she landed and stayed at idle, she could stay for an hour before she had to leave.

The remaining Spec Ops deployed around the landing site; the Blackhawks were all gone except for the two smoking. Their crews had gone with the rest. Liz had no doubt that each of the Blackhawks leaving was over loaded. The good thing was that they had used up more than half their fuel so they were that much lighter.

“Spectre Lead we have a big boy 50 minutes out.”

A Chinook was coming but it would be 50 minutes.

“Scooter, this is Doberman. If I land and stay at idle I can be here that long.”

Scooter thought hard. Was it better to leave Liz here or take off; maybe any local Taliban would figure it was all over. But leaving the Spec Ops there with no cover went against the grain. Liz had things figured; he had no doubt she could stay that long.

“OK Doberman go down now and then we will leave.”

“Roger.”

Liz carefully and economically as possible let down at the site. 

The Spec ops soldiers stared as the Apache sat down and went to idle. The leader came up to Liz’s apache. She opened the hatch.  
“Guys want some company?”

“Never sad to see a pretty face.” He gave her the OK sign and moved back and she closed the hatch. And they waited. Ted sighed.  
“Liz, sometimes I wish you were not so good at milking the juice.”

“Just one of my many talents.”

Liz had hoped that there might be some Air Force strike planes nearby but there was nothing available either. So they waited.

The Spec Ops guys waited; glad to have the company but very alert to the fact that they were really hanging out there.

“Doberman, this is Eagle Lift. You guys need a ride?”

Liz grinned in relief. “Some green beanies have their thumbs out.”

“I guess we can lower our standards just this once. 5 Mikes.”

“Roger.” She added power and the Apache went into the air. She hovered at 300 feet, she scanned to the right and Ted to the left.”

Just as the Chinook set down Liz saw movement to her side. Several fighters had AK-47’s.  
“Targets RIGHT using the 30!”

Liz hosed them just as another showed up with a RPG and he got shredded as well.

“Doberman Eagle Lift airborne!”

Liz waited an extra minute- then told Dugan  
“Hellfires on the Blackhawks Ted.”

“Roger”

He used two on each one and they blew up spectacularly.

Liz then headed out. She checked the gauges. It would be close but she doubted as close as last time. She stayed in position just behind the Big Chinook.

She made it in with just about 10 minutes fuel left.

The rest of the Company waited tensely until Liz had landed then greeted her.

“Late again Parker. Do you have an excuse slip from your parents?”

“I am not late- you left early!”

The pilot of the Chinook was at the debrief.  
“That RPG was aimed right at the cockpit when Doberman toasted him.”

He looked at Liz. “We had counting spec ops 30 people on board.” He rose and shook her hand. “You need a favor, Cap, anytime anywhere name it.”

“Watch out I might call that marker in!”

The Crew was waiting for her in the Barracks.  
Jesse was the first to hug her. “You did not know but I was flying for Jones. I was on the first Chopper that got hosed.”

Liz gasped then slumped. “One of the reasons I kept my cool was I thought none of you guys’s birds had been hit.”

The Spec Ops ground commander finished his report.  
“Bottom line was sir we were dead lucky. No one dead and no one critically wounded. If Parker had not stayed behind it would have been really bad.”

Special Operations Commander Afghanistan nodded.  
“We are adding up a big tab there. This is the second time she has put herself on the line and covered us.”

“Sir it’s time we showed our appreciation.” 

“Yes it is.”

“I think a commendation is due for this last mission for Captain Parker.”

“Yes sir. Another Air Medal?”

“Start the paperwork.”

Two days later another assault on a suspected stronghold; but this one was not as big.

“OK Company A will be escorting a strike by Spec Ops on another base and 6th Battalion will have 4 Hawks. This is a small one in comparison but farther= we will be 90 minutes flying to target.”

This mission was to have problems due to the last one; the wounded from that mission were spread over separate teams and that meant some mixing and matching were needed for the team hitting this target. That was bad because they had not worked together; and they had one total newbie. That can cause problems and this time it did.

Liz was a little worried; this mission had been textbook. Not one single problem. Nothing at all. Absolutely on time getting there; and it looked like there was very little resistance.

The newbie had been told to stay with his sergeant; and he had. Until he noticed something in one room of a house they were clearing. His sergeant was talking on the radio to the commander and did not notice him going into the room. He left the building and headed towards the dustoff point. He looked back quickly but did not realize the trooper right behind him was not the newbie.

Inside the room the newbie saw something about a wall that did not look right and he kicked at it; and a man with a knife came at him. He swung and hit him upside the head but he slipped on some cloth on the floor and hit his head as he fell. Stunned. Both of them lay there; one fully unconscious and one almost there.

They headed back to the base; the Sergeant looked around and realized the newbie was not with him. He checked again and then called to the other chopper. They were more than halfway to base; and the backup choppers had moved ahead and were even closer to base. It became clear they had left a man behind.

Liz was leading her platoon; flying economic as usual; the rest of the company had started to do that more following her example. She was 30 minutes out when the word came. 

“Spectre Lead, we left one behind.”

Scooter groaned. “EVERYONE report fuel status.”

As usual Liz had the most; but she would not make it back to the base if she went.  
“Scooter I can get there if he is around; but I cannot make it back. Can they bring some out and I get there?”

Some quick talking found that they could get it done. They could get B Company, who had been back at base, to come out to cover.

The newbie finally got out of the house, a little dazed but alert enough to manage to dodge the few people still around. He got past the edge of the village and keeping cover as much as possible headed towards base. His small radio only had a 5 mile range.

Liz had headed back and flew as cheap as possible; Ted grumbling about this getting real old.

“Ted, tune your com band to the hand held frequency. I hope he is transmitting.”

“Yeah. Not like we can go down and go house to house.”

Back at Bagram a scramble was going on. In record time a fuel bladder was filled and loaded on a Blackhawk with a hand pump. B Company was scrambling a platoon. Spec Ops command was already warming up his tonsils to chew out whoever had messed up by not counting noses going out.

Liz took a deep breath; she prayed he was alive and able to communicate.

The newbie had managed to get away from the village; he was going down a mountain path that gave him cover; it did not appear to be used much. He knew they would come back for him but he needed to be free for that to do him any good. He kept plugging along. His head was killing him but he did not dare take anything for it. 

With only about 50 minutes left of fuel Liz was getting near the site.  
“Ted try his frequency.”

“Doberman to lost pup. Do you read?” 

Newbie had stopped to rest; then he heard it.

“Doberman to lost pup. Do you read?”

He fumbled then looked around and spoke as soft as he could.  
“Lost pup to Doberman. NW of target.”

Liz smiled. “Can you hear us?”

He listened; he could.

“Roger about 185 degrees from my location.”

Liz looked at the map then at the ground. Not a great area to land but she would get close. 

Newbie looked and saw what looked like a fairly flat spot.  
“Doberman, am throwing smoke.”

Ted was looking hard. “There. Lost pup I see red smoke.”

“I am right there – flat spot next to it.”

“2 mikes.”

Liz set it down; it seemed solid and level enough. She immediately opened the hatch and saw the figure stumbling toward the chopper.

Newbie was just able to get to the chopper and the hatch opened and a VERY small figure got out.

“Get in, grab this handle, get up, come on.”  
Liz almost had to load him like a sack of potatoes; the blood on his head indicated head injury and the way he was barely moving was not good. She got him into the seat and climbed in.  
“GO Ted!”

He took off before she got the hatch secured. She was sitting on his lap. She managed to turn and start checking him out, it was not easy. Between the two of them it was a tight fit.

Ted was looking at the gauges; 40 minutes left give or take. They would at best make it half way.

“Doberman to control. Have him. Has head injury; barely conscious. 40 minutes Bingo.”

“Control to Doberman; relief in route.”

“Doberman this is Phoenix Flight. We have juice and gourd cracker. What is your position?” 

“Coordinates as follows…40 minutes Bingo.”

Ellen was in the cockpit of the lead Hawk; Vicki was in the rear. She quickly looked at the map; figuring the most economical speed of the Apache which Liz had told her some time ago.  
“Doberman we will go to coordinates- you should make that.”

Liz did some figuring.  
“Roger Phoenix.”

“Ted keep it at 115. Heading 145. Keep us at this altitude and start dropping 5 mikes out. We should make it.”

Newbie was almost unconscious and Liz kept trying to keep him awake.

30 minutes later Ted sighted the 2 Blackhawks landing; then the B Company Apache’s which quickly took station.  
“Doberman, this is Bearcat Lead. Nothing in sight and we will be waiting.”

“Roger Bearcat Lead.”

Ted brought it down smoothly; the fuel warning buzzer in his ear. He got it as close as he could to the Blackhawk who already had the fuel hose out. He got close enough for the fuel hose to reach. He sat it down and opened his hatch pointing at the auxiliary tank; the Tech nodded and pulled off the cap and put the nozzle in and signaled to the Blackhawk to the figure in the hatch who began to crank the pump. He waited until he saw the fuel pressure drop and switched from internal main to Right auxiliary 1. The engines kept going so he felt a great feeling of relief go through him.

Meanwhile Liz had gotten her hatch open as the medics got to them; she quickly hopped out and they started to manhandle the trooper out of the cockpit. One of the medics pulled her aside.  
“How bad?”

“He was not fully conscious for the last 15 minutes- it was all I could do to keep him that way. He was stumbling when he got to the chopper.”

She then stepped back and went to the other side where they were pumping fuel into the auxiliary tank. She headed to the Blackhawk with the fuel and went to the cockpit. Ellen gave her the high sign. She watched for a minute as the tech was working the hand pump; he was relieved and another ground away. Liz added up the numbers. That pump maxed out at around 10 gallons a minute. She needed 45 minutes to get in with a decent safety margin. She went up to the tech that was resting.  
“100 gallons” she shouted into his ear. He nodded. She went back- they had gotten the newbie to the Blackhawk and were strapping him down. She waved to Vicki in the cockpit and headed back to her bird.

Liz got back into the cockpit and closed the hatch.  
“They will put in 100 gallons.”

“That should be plenty.”

Finally the tech pulled out the nozzle and put on the cap and waved to the Cockpit and Ted waved back.  
“Ted, take us home.”

“Right Liz.”

Liz was at dinner that night when Griffith came by the table she was sharing with the Crew.  
“He is going to be all right. Bad concussion but that is all.”

The Special Operations Commander, Afghanistan, looked at his XO.  
“This is getting ridiculous. Why don’t we just sign over the keys to the building to her?”

His XO grinned. “The debt is getting pretty massive sir.”

“Are we ready?”

“Yes sir. Weather thinks it will be too windy to fly tomorrow and probably the next day. Good time for a party.”

Meanwhile Newbie had woken up in the hospital and was getting lots of grief from the others.  
“You mean to tell me you sat there with the cutest pilot around on your lap and you don’t remember anything? That is pretty sad man.”

Not long after Liz came by.

Newbie was still a little woozy.  
“Wow. They got cute doctors here.”

His other visitors busted a gut laughing.

The Team Captain took the opportunity.  
“Captain Parker, it seems stupid to keep thanking you for pulling our grits out of the fire, so we would like to thank you properly. Forecast says that it will be unflyable tomorrow and probably the next day. So could you come by the compound tonight at 1900?”

“I will check with my CO and I will bring my boyfriend just in case some of you snake eaters get fresh.”

“Would we do that?”

Sounds of a raspberry being blown.

Liz and Max arrived at the Spec Ops compound and were greeted by the Captain. He took them into one of the larger buildings; it was dark and then the lights came on.

Across the middle of the room:

“Thanks from Special Operations Command”  
And the banner had over a hundred signatures on it.

The night got fairly rowdy but Liz could not remember the last time she had laughed as much.

Someone had done a drawing that was actually very well done.  
It showed about 40 Special Ops soldiers being carried by a very tiny person; they were all piled up. Under it was the caption:  
“Small Woman’s Burden”

Liz met every trooper that that had been involved in the three operations that she had had such a special part in. Finally towards the end while a good number of the troopers were fully gassed, the door opened and the General Commanding Special Operations in Afghanistan came in. The room quieted a little then a lot when he held up his hand.  
“This will only take a minute then you can all go back to getting drunk.” That got a very good cheer.  
He walked up to where Liz and Max were sitting and Liz got up. Suddenly she noticed it was fully quiet.

“Captain Parker. This is a tradition that goes back to the founding of Special Forces. Whenever someone not in puts himself or herself way out there and really makes a difference, we do this.”  
He then pulled out a brand new Green Beret and placed it on Liz’s head. And the troopers raised the roof.

As September turned into October the pace of missions began to finally wind down. The weather turned worse and both sides tended to stay in more. Liz looked at the calendar and realized that they had only 5 months of missions to go before they began to pack up and go home. Liz sighed. It was still a long ways off. She was tired a lot anymore. So was everyone else. It had been grueling over the last 4 months.

Max looked over the paper work; he was going to give the company 90 days’ notice that he was leaving. He planned to be out officially on 1 March, 2009. Liz would be leaving country right about then. Working the contacts he had made over the last few years he had found a job with another contractor that serviced the larger fixed wing aircraft at Campbell. It was not that great of a job but it allowed him to work on Campbell. So he could be with Liz full time. He had been talking to a friend of his and a certain package was on its way. He intended giving Liz a real great Christmas gift. He no longer had any doubts at all.

There had been a ceremony held two weeks after the party.   
Ted Dugan had been stunned to get an Air Medal. Liz had pushed for that. Then Liz was really stunned when she was awarded the Legion of Merit for continued above and beyond duty actions supporting the Army Special Forces.

The Congressman looked at his aide. “As I recall, the Legion of Merit also has promotion value as well?”

“Yes sir.”

October left and November came and it began to get cold. The good news was that combat also began to really cool off. Multi mission days were virtually gone; and days began to string together that they had no missions at all. Which was really nice; they began to reach the point where they could do other things then just sleep every chance they got.


	8. How do you define Hero?

But just as it seemed things were getting quiet for the winter, the Taliban decided to try and get some strikes in. Well aware of the media’s seeming ability to forget past crimes for some if the proper situations are generated, they worked to try and make it appear as if they were misunderstood. They began to spend money and buy necessities for villagers that had been impoverished by the war. Carefully cultivating notoriously liberal European media types that had despised the US for many years, they began to try and show that much of their reputation was due to the US and its puppets. Now anyone with any intelligence would look at the past record of the Taliban; and even the immediate one, and laugh at the thought that anyone would buy it. But some did.

The PR Officer shook his head. “Sir, Washington should ignore them.”  
The Brigade Commander nodded. “They should and normally they would. But remember we have a new administration coming in. And as usual some are already trying to curry favor. It’s clear that the incoming administration will be trying to cultivate the more liberal Europeans. And that is how you get this.”

“THIS” was a directive to take some of the liberal European media into the villages of Afghanistan and question them about who were the real bad guys. Which meant that the Afghan military and security forces would be responsible, by the request of the media themselves. They wanted no US or British involvement. Frankly the Aviation Brigade Commander would be happy to oblige. But a further directive was that the Aviation Brigade would be available in support. The Message clearly was that they needed to be nearby to help. The Commander wondered why they thought they would need help. The Taliban would be putting on a show and they certainly would be on their best behavior.

“So there it is. The crazy far left wacko journalists will be going to several known Taliban villages to interview the people. The Afghans will be responsible for their security. NONE of the coalition are supposed to be there; no NATO involvement at all. BUT we are expected to be nearby to help if needed; naturally unseen otherwise. It’s a goat rope people. If you needed to be told.”

It was tentatively scheduled for the first week in January, just under two months off.

“Well maybe this whole thing will fall apart in a huge mass of hypocrisy.”  
Was Jesse’s rather blunt summation.

Meanwhile Max had been making preparations. He had enlisted the Crew and Ted and even her Company CO. All to maneuver Liz to where he wanted her at the right moment.

So on Dec 24, 2008, Liz was expecting to see Max for Christmas Eve. And then on Christmas Day. She was not expecting to be called to operations at 1800, especially as the weather was not good at all. She went into the office and found the lights on but no one there. Wondering what was going on she ran into Ted.

“It’s a standard Cluster, Liz. You need to see Grunt in the hanger.”

He then quickly moved off leaving Liz even more in the Dark. She left ops and grabbed a ride over to the hanger. She did not wonder why someone just happened by. The lights were on and she headed over to where her Apache was. Inside the bubble she saw that the Co Pilot Hatch was open. So she went around to the entranceway and headed to the front of the bird. She saw someone sitting in the copilot seat and figured it was Grunt.  
“What is going on…“when she realized it was not Grunt. It was Max. Who then reached over and picked her right up and sat down with her on his lap and proceeded to kiss the daylights out of her. When she recovered she managed to say “Max what is..” and he kissed her again. Then he took her face in both hands and said.  
“Liz Parker I love you.”

Liz glowed. “I love you Max Evans.”

“Good. Then will you wear this?”

And produced a gorgeous diamond engagement ring. Liz gasped as he placed it on her finger.

“Will you marry me Liz?”

No one outside of that cockpit would have otherwise heard her soft “Oh, Yes.” 

That was the best Christmas Liz had ever had.

Two weeks later despite everyone’s hopes, the Press Junket to the two villages was begun.

4 Blackhawks from 6 Battalion and Liz’s platoon were going to trade off with an equal group composed of the other platoon of A company and 4 more Blackhawks from 6 Battalion. They had established a fueling point about 30 miles from the two villages, watched over by Special Ops. They started out at 0900 and would stay on duty until the Press left. 

Liz was not happy with the situation; they would be running the helicopters all day. Continually refueling them. But theirs was not to reason why.

Meanwhile in the First Village the situation was tense because the Afghan security forces were from a different tribe than the village was and they had been enemies off and on over the years. The Press was not happy as instead of smiling faces they got sullen looks. The Taliban reps were assured of safe conduct by the Afghan Government but they acted very jumpy and very unfriendly. So after only an hour they headed to the next village, driving down the road.

Liz had switched off with 2nd Platoon and was getting refueled for the first time when they heard that the Press had already moved to the second village. Hopeful looks came as they started to maybe think that this would not be an all-day event.

The Second village was an hour away by road; but there was a small landslide that took time to clear by hand. It took three hours and it was 1400 when they got to village number two. Once again the Press was not happy; and being a typically spoiled media mess proceeded to proclaim to one and all that this whole trip was a joke. Which of course just about everyone on both sides had known all the time. However the village people did not appreciate it. The Taliban had brought only a few people in; they had been smart enough to make sure that it would not look like they had no one but fighters there. So the villagers began to berate the Press as typical foreigners too dumb to get out of the sun on a summer day. The Taliban reps began to realize that this was turning into a PR fiasco for them. 

Aliya was far too typical – her parents had been killed in fighting a year ago. Most of her relatives were dead; all of her close ones anyway. She was only 9 years old and thin. She was staying with an elderly aunt who was dying. She did not know where she was going to go next. She was very quiet but very sweet; so she poked her head out when the strangers came by. Now one thing all mediots know is that a young girl just about always makes the best photo op. So in no time at all they were all taking their pictures with her. Even the dumb ones noticed that none of the villagers seemed happy about it. One of them asked an interpreter and was told she was not from this village and barely a member of this tribe. Realizing this was making things worse the Taliban rep had the girl removed; his final stupid mistake. Even the dumb media figured out this was not good for the little girl and wanted to know what was going to happen to her. The Taliban rep told them it was none of their business and the press junket was over. That went over real well naturally. The Afghan Security people then told the media it was time to go. They grumbled but left, clearly not happy but none of them seemed to really care about the girl.

However there were some there who were worried; the interpreters. They had a very bad feeling what was going to happen to her. One of them quietly went to the communications vehicle and called the Coalition rep.

Aliya had been dragged to the far end of the village and locked in a shed. One of the interpreters had carefully followed and noted where.

Liz was just refueled and ready to get into the air again; it was almost 5 and only half an hour or so of light was left. Then they got the word about the little girl. The question was what could they do? Liz had a very bad feeling. She went over to where the lead Blackhawk was sitting and talked to the pilot, who was with some of the Special Ops people.  
“Wanna go visit that village?” The pilot grinned and nodded. Several Special Ops climbed into the ship. Liz went to her bird and started it up. She told Ted  
“We are going to that village and get that little girl.”

“I heard that.”

Everyone had left the village; the interpreters had no choice. But by chance the road leaving was up hill and about half a mile up the road was a place where one could observe the village. The interpreters stopped and got out binoculars. One of the camera crews noticed and stopped as well. They asked what was going on and were told about the little girl. It was still light; so they got their cameras with the zoom lens and set it up. And started filming.

Halfway to the village the Blackhawk called Liz. They had an engine warning light and rising temps so they would have to go back.  
Liz chewed her lip but decided to carry on. All the other Birds were returning to base. 

“Doberman to Whistler, take the others back. We will hang for a while.”

“Roger”

Liz then tried to contact the interpreters and was able to get them.

“This is Spectre lead what is the situation?” 

Just as Liz got to within 5 miles the interpreters saw the Taliban rep head to that shed and pull the little girl out and hit her, knocking her down on the ground. The Film crew cursed but kept filming. 

“Hurry! They are hitting the little girl!”

Liz growled deep in her throat, sounding amazingly like her call sign. Ted felt the hair on the back of his neck go up.

The Taliban rep then kicked the girl and pulled out a pistol and fired one shot at her and hit her; the camera clearly saw that. 

Liz was now within half a mile and everyone heard the sound of the Apache. Liz had her gun sight focused where the interpreters had told her it was happening. She saw the flash and gritted her teeth. Rage as she had never felt before coursed through her veins; she was no longer Liz Parker; she was now Nemesis. She put the cross hairs on that piece of shit and fired one round.

The interpreters were crying as the little girl was shot and then the Taliban rep seemed to explode into pieces. The others were knocked down. Then they got up and ran.

There was just enough room. Liz put the Apache down right in the middle of the road; she had her hatch open and was out like a shot and got to the little girl. She had been hit in the stomach and was bleeding badly. Liz picked her up and ran to her chopper.

Those on the hill were entranced as the deadly Apache landed; and a small figure got out and ran to the little girl; picked her up and carried her and put her in; climbed in and the ship took off.

“Ted she is bleeding badly. Redline her.”

“Gotcha Liz.”

Liz held the little girl and kept pressure on the wound and prayed. 

Aliya had been cold; now it was noisy and it seemed warmer, she felt someone holding her and pressed her face into the warm person that she could feel.

An Apache can do about 180 mph full out; Ted got her to 185.

Liz made the call. “Doberman to Control; I need clearance to Med center; I have a badly wounded little girl about 8 years old.”

“Control to Doberman, you are cleared; med team waiting.”

Liz had never prayed harder in her life. The 20 minutes it took to get there seemed forever. Ted brought her in at a swoop and dropped her right outside the doors where a crew and gurney came right out ignoring the rotor blast. Liz got out as she handed the girl and told Ted to take her in.

Meanwhile the camera crew had called for a flight out so that they could get the film to the network. Ellen had not yet landed on another late afternoon op and volunteered to go and found a place not far away from them; Bearcats provided cover; they lifted off just as dusk fell.

Liz sat there in the waiting room right outside the emergency room where they were working on the little girl. An interpreter was beside her from the hospital trying to get information. Liz knew little; she had gradually picked up a smattering of the language (she was to find that she knew more than she realized) but she could not tell him much. About an hour later more people showed up escorted by Spec Ops. The officer she knew pretty well came up to her.  
“Captain Parker, this is the interpreter that called you.”

Liz stood up and shook his hand.  
“Please, how is she?”

“I do not know she has been in there for an hour.”

The film was going up the ladder already but the camera crew had gotten to the hospital and came in the door. They saw Liz talking to the interpreter; she had blood on the front of her uniform so they knew who she was – and they remembered that the pilot of that Apache had been very small. So they put two and two together and started to film her. Just then the doors to the emergency room opened and a doctor in scrubs came out. Liz went right to him.

“How is she?”

“It was close but she will live.”

Liz closed her eyes and bowed her head then opened them and looked at the doctor.  
“Thank you so much.” He noticed the blood.

“Is that from the little girl?”

“Yes.”

“She lost a lot but you keeping pressure on it probably made the difference. She should be waking up in a few hours.”

“I am Captain Parker of Company A of the 1st Battalion 101st aviation. Please contact me when she starts to wake up, no matter when. I want to be there for her.”

“I will do that Captain.”

She turned to the interpreter who was smiling.  
“You did a wonderful thing.”

“I only called you. You are the one that saved her life and punished that animal that shot her.”

Liz blushed. “Thank you. Now I have to go back to operations and start filling out paperwork.”

She nodded to the Spec Ops guys who formed a ring around her and escorted her out of the building, giving her a ride to Ops.

Once arriving in the office Griffith was waiting for her.  
“We are going to the Generals office right now. This is going to be big.”

“Big?”

“Liz, they caught it all on film. That POS hitting the girl, then kicking her, then shooting her, then you blowing him away, landing your Apache right in the middle of town, taking that girl and sweeping her away. This is going to be HUMONGOUS.”

“Oh.”

The General was on the phone with DC.  
“No Sir I have not yet seen the film. It should be hitting the network in the next hour or so. I agree; the Taliban just crapped on itself in front of the whole world. We need to play this to the limit. Captain Parker will be here shortly and I can get it all. Yes sir I will let you know as soon as I know.”

He looked at his XO. “We have to handle this just right. No embellishment; just let that film speak for itself. Parker is very good at speaking to people; I think we need to let her just be herself.”

“CENTCOM will be waiting?”

“The President is waiting; CENTCOM is just the messenger boy.”

Not long after Liz came in the door. Both officers were shocked at the amount of blood on the front of her uniform.

“Captain, is all that the Little Girls?”

“Yes sir.”

“And she will make it?”

“That is what the doctor said about 15 minutes ago.”

“Good. Now tell me everything.”

An hour later Liz headed back to the barracks – the General had told her to NOT have that uniform cleaned. They might need it to make a point. She managed to get into the Room where the Crew was waiting; as was Max.

Max grabbed her and laid a huge one on her that she returned with interest. They all exclaimed at the blood. She then quickly changed after the girls shooed Max out and the Major dragged him down the hall and told him to come back the next morning.

Liz took a quick shower and changed to a fresh uniform.  
The Crew wanted details.

“Guys, you know what happened.”

There was a shout from outside the door.

“Liz, it’s going to come on CNN in moment!”

Liz managed to get her pants and shirt on and was barefoot when they gathered in the main room to watch.

“I want to warn our viewers that what you are about to see is unedited and live from Afghanistan. This footage was taken just hours ago. An example of the brutality of the Taliban towards women; and in this case an 8 year old girl. Once again we warn you this will be graphic.

In a rare moment of insight, the late night anchor let the film speak for itself in all its awful clarity.

Millions saw the bearded, robed figure grab the little girl and strike her, knocking her down. He then kicked her. Shouting things at her while she cowered. Then he pulled out a pistol, shouting more at her. Then he pointed at her and fired. You could actually see the impact of the bullet on the small body. A second later as he appeared to be ready to fire again his body exploded. The pictured jerked as the camera showed in the still fairly bright sky an Apache swoop down and land; a small figure get out and grab the little girl and put her in, then close the hatch and the Helicopter took off and headed away very fast.

We have not yet confirmed the identity of the Pilot, but there is only one female pilot flying Apache’s in Afghanistan. That would be Captain Elizabeth Parker of Company A, 1st Battalion, 101st Aviation brigade. And while the camera was not close enough for positive Identification, it seems a safe bet that that small figure was indeed the rather petite Captain Parker. Small in size perhaps; but huge in heart.”

Liz blinked. It was so bizarre seeing yourself that way. Suddenly she was aware of silence. She looked away from the TV and saw everyone in the building standing at attention and saluting her. Slowly she returned the salute. And then one by one they came up and hugged her and shook her hand. It was a silent and very moving experience for Liz Parker.

They went back to their room and Liz sat on her bunk. The others sat down and were very quiet. Finally Jesse looked at her.  
“Liz, if you have not figured it out by now, your life is about to change again. This will go all over the world. In a weeks’ time there might not be more than 10% of the population of the world who will either not have seen it; or not have heard about it. You are going to be as famous as or more famous than any pop star or movie star. From this point on that will be how people remember Elizabeth Parker. Till the day you die and they will show this again. Liz, you are immortal.” 

Liz stared at her; her face slowly whitening. “Oh. My. God.”

The General turned away from the TV screen and looked at the gathered officers.

“I cannot imagine any scene needing fewer words to describe.”

No one said a word.

The Command phone buzzed and he picked it up. He straightened up. “Yes Mr. President I have seen it. I guess everyone who is up has seen it. Sir I can have her on the phone in half an hour. Oh. Of Course. I will see to it. Yes sir she is a fine officer; I can truthfully say I have none better. Yes sir. Goodnight sir.”

He set the phone down and looked at his officers. “He wants her to get a good night’s sleep. Will have her call him tomorrow morning our time.”

Nancy Parker slowly picked up the phone. “Yes?”   
“Nancy its Ted. You need to turn on CNN as soon as you can. Liz just did something big again. Only this time it’s HUGE.”

Three seniors at the University of Georgia were watching TV. Just like many others around the world. They looked at each other and found for once they had nothing to say.

A couple of commentators on Fox News:  
“It is remarkable how that young woman has managed to do so many extraordinary things in such a short time.”

“It’s been an argument historians have had for a long time. Do great times make great people or do great people make great times. With Elizabeth Parker, I tend to lean to the latter.” 

A congressman had been awakened and had turned on his TV. He sat there and felt for one of the few times in his life, awed.

Front page news. Total network coverage. It was everywhere.

At Bagram Airbase in a barracks a young woman slept. Her door was guarded by her friends; the barracks itself by Special Forces. Had anyone tried to force admittance their wrath would have been terrible.

In a hanger a ground crew was carefully cleaning the cockpit of an AH-64D Apache Attack Helicopter. They were also quietly wiping down the entire aircraft. Helped by twenty others. 

A civilian contractor sat watching TV, thinking about that young woman sleeping not too far from him.

In Columbus Ohio a middle aged woman was held by her somewhat older male friend; who had quietly asked her to marry him just a few weeks ago; they sat and watched the news. She marveled at the young woman she had bourn and brought up. 

All around the world, millions of people were talking to each other about what they had seen. There are common concepts of what heroes are; firemen running into flaming buildings and bringing people out; brave souls confronting tyrants with nothing but their bodies and their words. But very few argued with the idea that that young woman who had both saved that little girl and executed that foul man who had shot her was a hero too.

And all over the world young women saw what that young woman had done and asked themselves: if she did that, what can I do?

Liz woke up and stretched; then looked at the clock and opened her eyes wide in shock. She looked frantically around her room and spied Ellen sitting on her bunk reading a book.  
“Ellen! Why did you let me sleep! I am late for formation!”

“No you are not. You are excused from duty. And since I won the short straw contest so am I. One of us will stay with you. Orders from the Commanding General.”

Liz stared. With her mouth wide open.

“Catching flies?”

Her mouth closed with an audible click.

“Heroes rate some special treatment and you are a hero. Get used to it.”

Liz nodded and then got up and got dressed. She looked at Ellen. “So if you are my keeper where is my next performance?”

Ellen grinned evilly. “Interesting that you used that word…” 

Liz went to the mess hall with Ellen to eat; she grabbed something and headed to a far corner.  
“I hope people stop staring.”

“Get used to it. Remember what I said last night?”

“I am so screwed.”

Suddenly Liz looked at Ellen. “The Girl?”

“She has not yet woken up; I checked. She was pretty malnourished. The Doctor was a little worried but thinks she will be fine.”

She looked up as several Spec Ops troopers came up to her.

“Captain, we are your detail for the time being.”

“Detail?”

“Commanding General’s orders. You will have a detail until further notice. We were guarding the barracks last night.”

Dumbly Liz nodded. She quickly finished her meal and looked at them and Ellen. “First things first. Hospital.” 

Feeling a little ridiculous being surrounded she went outside to find a Hummer with a guard on it that gave her a rigid salute that she returned. Another Hummer pulled up and the Troopers got into it to follow them to the Hospital. There she went right in and spoke to the nurse up front.  
“I need to see that little girl. Now.”

The Nurse looked at the grim troopers behind her and nodded. She directed them to ICU where she still was.

Liz got to the front station and asked if she could see her. At that moment the Doctor arrived and took her with them; telling her escort to wait. The little girl was hooked up to all sorts of machines but the heart monitor showed a steady beat. Liz moved closer. She was so young and helpless. She could see a big bruise on the side of her face. She gently stoked the other side and the little girl moved slightly, murmuring. Liz remembered some of the language she knew and softly cooed gentle words to the young girl. Liz looked for a chair and pulled it up and sat there stroking her cheek. Then she reached for a small hand and clasped it. She was surprised when the pressure was returned. She looked up at the doctor.  
“She squeezed my hand.”

He quickly began to check her vitals. As he pulled up an eyelid, the eye blinked. She was awake. Liz got up and placed her hand on her cheek and crooned soft words to her.

Aliya was tired but she felt nicely warm. She blinked at the lights then felt a soft hand on her face. She turned and looked at a young woman who was smiling softly at her; calling her nice things. She remembered this woman; she thought she did. She seemed very nice. She murmured her name when the nice lady asked her.  
“Aliya.”

Liz stayed a few minutes then the girl went back to sleep. Liz slowly stood up, looking at the girl. Then she looked at the doctor. “Please let me know when she is awake for a longer time.” Then Liz took her captains bars off and put the studs back in and placed them on the table next to the bed. “Let her know I will be back. Those are for her to KNOW I will be back.”

She went to the front desk and let them know the number she could be reached and then they all trooped out.

She stopped by operations and was told by the Battalion Commander that she was off of flight status for the time being. She scowled at him but he waved his hand.  
“This came from WAY up the ladder.”

Liz then headed for the HQ building as that was supposedly where she might find some answers. She stopped by her barracks to get a spare set of bars.

In HQ she was taken to a conference room where she was pleased to see that interpreter. She quickly went to talk to him.

“Her name is Aliya. That is all I could get.”

He nodded. “I was able to get a little of her story. She was living with an old aunt that died yesterday. I have a feeling that the Taliban killed her too; but she was sick and old so she might have died naturally. More than likely she is an orphan now.”

“What will happen to her?”

“It is not good. But considering all that has happened a place for her can be found.” 

Liz frowned. “There WILL be a place found for her.”  
She began to think hard on this. Then the general came into the room and they all stood.

He had them all sit down and then looked at Liz.  
“Captain, you are off of flight status by order of the President.”

Liz’s eyes got huge. “The PRESIDENT?”

“Yes. Personally gave me that order last night. That will be an interesting notation in your service record. Very few have the note ‘VOP’ verbal order Presidential. His reasoning is sound. You have dealt the single greatest blow to the Taliban since October of 2001. Now really it was self-inflicted by that idiot but since you killed him they will want your head on a pike badly. The fact that you are a young woman just makes them that much more rabid. Your combat tour is over.”

Liz sat back in shock. “This means my combat career is over period, doesn’t it?”

He took a deep breath. “In Afghanistan for certain. In all likelihood it is probably over.”

For a long moment Liz just sat there. Then she looked at the general. “With all due respect, sir, then I guess my resignation from the US Army will be on your desk by tomorrow.” 

The room went very quiet. He looked at her carefully.  
“Captain, do not make any hasty decisions.”

“Sir, what is the point of my staying in?”

“You could become an instructor. Your record easily qualifies you for that. You could stay at Rucker for several years being one.” 

“Sir. I am not saying I might have not gone that route someday. But choosing that route and having it forced on me is a whole different story. I will not become a PR mannequin.”

He blinked at that. “Well, you will have to make your case with the President. And there will be a new one in less than two weeks. I would suggest you wait and see. You have evaluated your copilot as being qualified for Pilot so he can take your place and there are available copilots. So your unit will not be shorthanded. I would remind you that this is the slow time for combat anyway.”

“Very well I will wait and talk to THIS president and the next.”

The entire room marveled at her. She was only a captain but she dominated that room.

“Well then I guess it’s time I made that call.”

His aide spoke into the phone and waited for a minute then handed it to the general.

“Mr. President, I think you need to talk to Captain Parker immediately. Since I informed her of you revoking her flight status she has offered her resignation from the US Army. And sir she is very serious about it.” 

He listened and nodded. He then gestured to her and she walked around the table to take the phone, knees slightly shaking.

“Mr. President this is Captain Parker. Thank you, sir. I could not have lived with myself if I had done anything different sir. She will be ok; I spoke to her this morning. Her name is Aliya and it seems she is now an orphan as her last relative died last night. Yes, sir I think it is very suspicious. Sir I am very serious. I will not be used for PR. If I cannot fly then I see no reason to remain in the service. I understand the concerns and reasons sir but when do we allow our enemies to dictate how we will fight them? Yes sir. Thank you, sir. Well my copilot is fully qualified to pilot and I have notated that in my evaluation. Sir you were a pilot so you know the road. We have technically 2 more months of our tour but realistically we will have only about 4 weeks of combat left; our replacements have just arrived and it will take them that long to reach flight status. Yes sir. Very well sir. Thank you and goodbye Mr. President. I will give the General the phone sir.”

She handed it back to the general and resumed her seat. She looked around and blinked at the looks she was getting.

“What?”

The Brigade Commander shook his head.

“Captain you just argued with a major general and then with the President of the United States whom you just told off. I think we all knew you had serious cojones but this is ridiculous. I am beginning to think your call sign of Doberman is grossly inadequate.”

The General hung up the phone and looked at her bemused.

“The President has acceded to your – I guess one could call it demand- and your flight status is returned. But I am told that it is strongly recommended that you do not fly combat for the rest of your tour. If your Copilot is qualified it’s time to find out.”

Liz considered that. ”He does deserve his chance.”

“Well now that that is settled, it is time to consider how to handle the increasing hordes of Media that is descending on us. Captain Parker, you do realize you will have to face them sooner or later?”

“Yes sir. I would rather see combat.”

“Well that is understandable.” 

The President sat back, bemused. With all the problems with the banks and the economy suddenly the wars had just taken front stage again. Well one war anyway. He marveled at that young woman he had just talked to. Sighing, he realized one huge negative about leaving office; he would no longer be Commander in Chief of those such as her.

The meeting became about the press conference. The Taliban, beginning to realize just how serious this mess for it was, had reacted as usual; claiming it was all made up. Which for them was even dumber than normal. The PR officer was in constant contact with the Pentagon as they tried to figure out the best way to play the whole situation.

An urgent meeting of the Presidents top NS advisors and team was quickly called; the conclusion was to let the film speak for itself; say as little as possible. The Secretary of State felt that they did need to keep up the pressure; to not let anyone divert the attention from that brutal atrocity. The President then looked at her.

“Talking to Captain Parker, she said that the girls only remaining relative died suddenly last night. I think we can all figure out what happened there; but now from what we know and is probably correct, she is an orphan. We need to be very sure she is protected and taken care of.”

SECSTATE pondered that. “Mr. President, the brutal facts are that she will NOT be safe in Afghanistan. The Taliban and its sympathizers, and our enemies, will target her. At the same time if we take her out of there that embarrasses the Afghan government which is bad.”

SECDEF mused. “We could take her to Germany and say she requires better care. From there we could arrange something.”

SECSTATE shook her head. “That would only last a little while; just delaying things. This little girl will be famous. We cannot hide her.” 

It was finally agreed that for the time being to keep her there; and to try and figure something out later to protect her.

Liz was slowly realizing that what Jesse had said was true; her life would be different from now on. Or at least the foreseeable future.

The nine hour time differential between Bagram and DC made things more difficult as far as trying to determine when to schedule the press conference. It was only three hours for most of Europe. Finally it was decided to go with 2PM EST which was 8PM for most of Europe and 11PM at Bagram.

The Commanding General would chair it; he would give a statement then show the film again then take a few questions then Liz would be on.

Liz was in BDU’s this time which made her feel better. She was still very nervous. But she remembered visiting Aliya at the hospital.

Aliya had woken up early that afternoon, feeling much better. She was still on pain medication but not as groggy. The nurse who was sitting beside her bed had a good command of Afghan and was able to talk to her. She had given Aliya the Captain Bars and Liz’s message to her. Aliya fingered the shiny thing and thought about that young woman. She was very nice.

Liz had been alerted and had gone right over; her detail still around. She walked into the room where Aliya was and saw that she was awake, if looking a little out of it due to the pain meds. She took the nurses place, who moved towards the door until Liz stopped her.  
“Is there an interpreter handy?”

“I will get one quickly.”

Liz took the girls hand and with her other hand stroked her cheek. She looked much better even if the bruise on her face did not. She was very thin and clearly needed building up. She had a strong but pretty face and beautiful blue eyes. Liz dredged up the Afghan she knew and quietly told her that she would be ok.

Aliya looked at the young woman; she was very nice. She even knew a little of her language; Aliya only knew a few words on English. She managed to tell her that she wanted to know the young woman’s name.

“Elizabeth.” “Liz.”

Aliya tried them out; the first was too hard but she did pretty well on the second. “Liz.” The young woman smiled brightly. 

Then the interpreter came in; Liz was happy to see that she was a local woman. She then told her that she wanted to know if Aliya had any family. The interpreter talked to her for a moment and then looked at Liz. “None other than that aunt; she does not know she is dead.”

Liz took a deep breath. “Tell her. And tell her she will be taken care of; I promise that.”

Aliya closed her eyes for a moment when told of Her Aunt’s death. They had not been close but she had been family. Now no more family. She opened them and looked at the young woman who held her hand; and was stroking her cheek. She had promised to take care of her. Maybe she would. She felt sleep coming.

Liz could see she was tiring. “Tell her to sleep; I will be back.”  
Liz waited until she was asleep before leaving. She went back to the Barracks; she had about an hour to go before the press conference. Instead of thinking about that she thought about Aliya. An idea was coming to her. She called Max. 

Max sat there thinking after Liz hung up. Wow.

The General began the press conference.

“Good afternoon. Yesterday there was an example of why the Taliban and all those that believe as they do cannot be considered a civilized people. In the Village of Pashir, in this province, the Taliban, in a village of their own, showed what they truly are. This is not an isolated example; there are hundreds that have been documented over the years. This one was caught on film. The girl, whose name is Aliya, had lost her parents last year in the fighting. She was staying with her last relative, an older Aunt that reportedly died last night. I will say no more as you have seen the film; but here it is again. But first this film clip of a few hours earlier when she was shown with members of the press Junket that went to that village. Then the other film clip will follow.”

It was shown. Even those that had seen it before were enraged. Then felt uplifted at what happened next. The General let the clips finish. 

“She is now recovering at the hospital here on base. Her doctor has indicated she should recover fully. He will be available for questions. Now for questions.”

“General, you called the Taliban uncivilized. IS that not intolerant of another culture?”

“No culture that enslaves young women and girls and treats them as property deserves tolerance.”

“General, what will happen to the young girl?”

“That is not a subject that will be discussed at this time. She will be in that hospital recovering for many weeks.”

“General, it seems that Captain Parker gets involved in more than her share of extraordinary situations.”

“Extraordinary people tend to do that.”

He then held up his hand. “Now Captain Parker will answer some questions.”

Liz took a deep breath and came out and marched towards the Podium that the General had left. The flashes from cameras was almost blinding. All present were once again stunned at how physically small she was. Liz stood for a moment calmly (at least outwardly). She stood with her arms behind her back looking out over them. She then looked at one reporter and nodded. All present were very impressed by her almost regal bearing.

“Captain Parker. Why were you already moving towards the Village before told about the little girl?”

Interesting; that is someone who has done some digging. 

“We were on alert just as a contingency force. We were informed that the little girl had been seized and roughly taken away and locked in a shed. I was on the ground at the refueling point about 30 miles away. I was well aware of the past record of the Taliban as regards women and young girls. She had been shown having pictures taken with Westerners. That usually ends very badly for that girl or woman. I talked to some Special Forces personnel who were at the point. I asked them to come with me; we were going to take that little girl away from that village. They agreed. Unfortunately on the way the helicopter developed engine trouble and had to turn back. I decided to press on; my copilot agreed. I reached the village just as that young girl was being beaten and kicked. Then shot. I then took action.” 

It seemed like everyone was holding their breath after that quiet statement. She nodded to another reporter who had stood up.

“Captain Parker, you took this action on your own without discussion with any higher authority?”

“I did. And I would do it again.” 

She nodded to another.

“Captain Parker, were you not worried about causing an incident by going to that village in force?”

“That little girl was more important than what anyone else would say or do later.”

The reporters all looked at each other. Her calm quiet dignity was very intimidating. She nodded at another.

“Captain Parker, were you not worried about your career?”

“One has to be able to live with oneself first.”

“Do you think your career will suffer?”

“I was grounded by order of the President. He was concerned that I would become a target. I then offered my resignation from the US Army.”

That caused a stir. She nodded to another.

“Why would you resign?”

“If I cannot fly I do not wish to remain in the military. Combat is part of that duty. If in the future I took a ground position that is one thing; or assigned to one under normal conditions that would be another. But this would be to put me in a position that not due to ability or any other reason, just basically for appearances, that I could not continence. IF an officer truly disagrees with policy or decisions, then the only honorable course of action for that officer is to resign. The President then reconsidered. At this moment I am back on flight duty status.”

The PR officer then moved forward at a nudge from the General.

“That concludes this press briefing.” Liz wasted no time and left the podium and was out of the room quickly. She went right into a restroom and stood at the sink, shaking quietly. She ran cold water and rubbed some on her face. Taking deep breaths.  
After a minute or two she left the room. Outside her detail was waiting as was the PR officer. He looked at her and shook his head.  
“You really do what you think is right and damn the consequences?”

Liz looked at him. “Yes.”

He sighed. “Well that will certainly stir things up even more. You do know that you basically admitted to bullying the President of the United States, your Commander in Chief?”

She cocked her head. “So?”

“Are you really that willing to throw everything away? Resign like that?”

“Yes. If that is what you believe, then you have no choice.”

She looked at her detail. Then at the PR Officer. “How long are they stuck babysitting me?”

“Until further notice.”

Liz sighed. “Very well. Come on guys, I am heading back to the hospital to talk with Aliya.”

Aliya was awake and more alert, Liz saw. There were also a large amount of flowers present. That was surprising; they were not exactly easy to come by at this time of year. The Nurse who was sitting with her smiled at Liz’s expression.  
“They started coming in right after you left. More coming all the time. We started putting them in other rooms to cheer people up.”  
Liz nodded and smiled at Aliya. She smiled back shyly. Liz asked the nurse to see if the interpreter was free. Liz sat down and reached for Aliya’s hand. After a couple of minutes the interpreter came in. Liz looked at her.  
“Please ask her if she knows of any family?”

Liz did not need to understand to realize Aliya had none. Her idea was becoming more to the point. Liz then asked her to talk about where she had come from and her life before.

It was not a very nice story. Her life had been hard even before her parents, poor herders, had been killed. It had even gotten tougher in the year since. After a while longer Liz got up and told her that she would be back. She searched out the doctor and asked him how long Aliya would be in the hospital; he said at the minimum another week and probably two.

Liz got back to the barracks and signed on her email; she had a lot of messages. Mostly from her mother and her friends. One from Sergeant Axton. It was short.

“Well done.”

She smiled at that.

Then she emailed the personal email of the Congressman with an important question. After giving quick responses to the other emails she signed off. Then she called Max. Asked him to come over. She was waiting at the door and pulled him over to the side of the room. Luckily there was no one around at the moment.

“What do you think?”

“Are you sure of this?”

“Yes.”

“Well I would like to meet this girl.”

“Let’s go.”

Meanwhile the war continued, though the Taliban was for the moment keeping a very low profile.

As regards Liz’s press conference, that indeed stirred things up. She was cheered even more by the great majority for deciding to take action on her own. Women’s groups, sensing opportunity, were extravagantly lauding her. And others for her standing up and demanding to return to duty. The incoming president was asked and was very careful to say that she was clearly an outstanding officer and that the Military needed more like her; and that indeed what more needed to be said about the Taliban?

The Congressman noted the email and opened and read it; with his eyes widening all through it. He sat for a moment then began to find out what he needed to know.

Liz smiled at her Detail; she told Max she was stuck with them for the time being and they had better things to do then babysit her. The Detail head shook his head.

“Actually Captain, we had to draw since so many volunteered.”

Aliya looked with interest as the nice woman, Liz, came in with a somewhat older man. She saw the way Liz held his hand and the way he looked at Liz and nodded much too wisely for someone of her years. She liked him; he had a kind smile.

Max fell under the spell of Aliya right away. He knew more Afghan than Liz did and they were able to talk some.

The Congressman looked at his aide.

So there are really not many problems on THIS side of the fence?”

“No Sir.”

“The other side?”

“Will have to feel them out. But if the president were to make a formal request then I think there would be no problem.”

He thought for a minute. “Please contact the SECSTATE and let her know I would like to talk to her.”

SECSTATE put the phone down. In one respect a big surprise; but in another it should come as no surprise at all. She figured the president needed to know about this right away. Especially if they wanted this done before he left office.

Liz had left Max talking to Aliya and went back to the Operations building. She still had a lot of paperwork to take care of. There she found that Ted had gotten a copilot and they had gone out on his first mission. She was glad he was getting a chance. But she felt a little lost; she realized that more than likely she would be flying no more missions. 

Ted got back just before dark and was enthused; he had not had to fire anything but was juiced. She congratulated him then went looking for Scooter.

“So Scooter do you think you will need me?”

He looked up at her and shook his head.  
“Realistically probably not with as quiet as things are right now. NOW if we have a big mission – I might. Leadership in 1st Platoon is not strong right now.”

Liz nodded. “If you need me I am there.”

He stopped her before she left.  
“Liz, you stood real tall. And you really took a stand at that Press conference. I think a whole lot of people would like to have stones like you got.”

Liz blushed and then left.

The President looked at the SECSTATE. He had asked her to come right over after her phone call. They had talked some more.

“Can we get this done before I leave office?”

“If you act right away sir.”

Liz checked her email and saw that she had a reply from the Congressman.  
“Working on it. Looks hopeful.”

Liz smiled.

The General put down the phone. He sat there and blinked then called in the PR Officer and his XO. When they came in he had them close the door.

“Well I just got off the phone. Something else has been added to this circus.” 

The next morning they got a quick alert that the Spec Ops wanted to do a mission that might net several higher Taliban officials; apparently a meeting had been called to discuss their current PR nightmare. Worldwide the condemnations were pouring in. They had not had all that much support anyway; mainly consisting of those countries that hated the US. Now even those were starting to back off. 

The Battalion commander came into the office of the A company commander accompanied by B and C commanders.

“We got a hot one. The Taliban is calling a hasty meeting. We need to crash that party. It’s near Kondoz. We are looking at having a fuel point set up. This is right in the Taliban’s back yard and unfortunately no one else is in a position to hit fast. An Air strike is out since they are having this meeting right next to a big school. We have to get our people in with a vertical assault. There is an abandoned soviet airstrip here; we can get C130’s in with fuel tonight; and have our choppers go there and refuel then hit it at first light.”

Scooter looked at Liz and nodded and she smiled. She went and found Ted.

“Looks like I get one more mission. It’s a biggie.”

The rest of the day was a scramble to get everything ready for this kind of a mission. They would leave after dark so no one would see what direction they would be going. IT would take them a full hour to get to the airstrip. There they would refuel and try and get some rest; they would take off one hour before dawn.

The entire battalion was going; this was not only a raid it was a show of force. Right in the Taliban’s back yard. The 5th Battalion would send 16 Black Hawks; 8 for the mission and 8 as backup. A company would be the close support; B company top cover; with C Company in reserve. The Air Force would be deploying an AWACS and the mission commander would be in that. They would have strike fighters flying high cover. It was emphasized to identify them clearly, but any Taliban forces were to be hit.

Liz managed one more visit with Aliya and all but ordered Max to watch over her. He realized it was a big mission and understood her unspoken message. If the worst happened he would take care of her no matter what. She quickly wrote a letter and left it with Max just in case.

They left at 2000 and headed south until well away from the air base then headed north. They would be cruising at 120 Knots, and it would take them about 90 minutes to get to the air strip.

The operation to take the airstrip went easily; as satellite recon had shown, there was no one there. It had been cleared out several years ago just in case. A Special Forces team parachuted in to make sure there were no mines or anything on the airstrip. They confirmed it was clear and usable and the first C130 landed at 2100. The Choppers got there just a little after 2130. Everyone refueled and sacked out as best they could inside the C130’s. Liz and the Crew, the only women on the mission, grabbed a corner and managed to get about 4 hours sleep. Which was better than nothing.

Meanwhile Predators had tracked at least one Taliban leader to the building that they were going to hit.

Everyone was in their choppers and going at 0500. Dawn was 0610 and they were going to hit right then.

A Company was right with the initial attack force; 8 Blackhawks packed with Special Ops. They were flying at about 3000 feet at near top speed. IT had been decided to fly with just one auxiliary fuel tank; the distance from the airstrip to target was only about 50 miles but they wanted a little extra just in case. This also allowed them to go at max speed in and out.

The Predator was on station at 50,000 feet; unseen and unheard. It was lasing the building; the Lead Apache’s would home in on that laser strike and guide the Blackhawks in. Both Scooter and Liz would be following the laser.

Liz picked up the laser and called in.

“Doberman to Scooter; I have the beam.”

“Scooter to Doberman; my system is out- lead them in.” 

Liz took a deep breath and concentrated on her instruments that showed where the beam was hitting. She slowed down as per procedure and the Blackhawks closed in tighter to her; she would lead them right to the building. She was still going over 80 knots.

In the lead Chopper Ellen was fixated on Liz’s apache. She was maybe 100 feet away.

Liz now had visual on the building and she could see the school right across the street. Thankfully this early there would be no kids there. Liz slowed and stopped 50 feet above the building and right at its edge and the Choppers hovered and the Spec Ops rappelled out and down to the top of the building. So far she could see no resistance.

She moved up to 100 feet and began to circle the building; the other ships of her platoon right with her. A ring of death circling the building.

Down below the people had been awoken by the noise; most cowered and hid. Some did not.

Ken sighted the first resistance. “Hostiles at front- firing.”

He hosed several AK-47 armed people who had started shooting. They were swept away. 

Liz kept circling and watching; she saw a truck speeding down a street towards them. She put her sight on it and told the others.

“Vehicle. Pulling out; Whistler maintain pattern.”

She saw it was a pickup and it had a 12.7MM MG in the back and she did not hesitate. 5 30MM rds blew it up. Now more calls were coming from the other three about resistance but so far nothing serious.

“Scooter to Doberman; more vehicles coming towards you- we will take care of them.” He moved off.

“Roger”

Inside the building the Special ops had already penetrated the 2 story building that sprawled over half a block to the ground floor. They had eliminated more than 20 without taking any hits.

The Blackhawks had moved up to 1000 feet waiting for dustoff.

The Taliban leader tried to escape the building and Liz saw him. She took him and his bodyguards out with half a dozen 30MM shots.

The Spec Ops commander had found some files and paperwork and they grabbed them for the intelligence weenies to look at. Then he gave the order.

“Dustoff!”

Liz heard that and ordered the rest of the platoon to look for possible resistance as the Blackhawks began to come down.

The only thing Liz worried about was someone on a roof top with an RPG.  
“Doberman to everyone- eyeball rooftops looking for RPG’s”

Then leading the way she began to buzz the neighboring rooftops at only 50 feet or so; the blast alone would knock anyone down.

Liz heard a couple of pings and realized someone was tossing what was likely 7.62 at her. She looked around but it was Ted that found him. And took care of him with 1 30MM rd.

“Night Night.”

Then she got the welcome word.

“Eagle Lift to Spectres; we are gone.”

Scooter wasted no time. “Spectre Lead to everyone- Time to BUG OUT!”

No one hung around. The Blackhawks were clear and moving fast; the Apaches were right behind them.

Liz began to relax as they hit 3000. Nothing but a major AA weapon could reach them at that height. Not likely to find anything like that away from the City.

It was actually an anticlimax after that; there were no problems getting to the air strip; everyone refueled and then by 1000 they were heading home. They landed at around 1130.

Meanwhile the President had made a call to the President of Afghanistan. He promised to call back quickly with a reply.

The SECSTATE was going over things while Legal was making sure every T was crossed and every i was dotted. The Congressman was called.

Liz finished the mission debrief at 1300. It went faster than she had expected. She looked at Scooter as they headed towards their offices.  
“Well for what was probably my last combat mission it went pretty well.”

He nodded. “Will not know for a while if ever just what we got out of this one but we certainly let them know we can go anywhere we want to get them.”

Liz spent an hour doing paperwork then called Max. He was very glad to hear from her; and told her that he absolutely agreed with her plan. She went to meet him and get something to eat; ration bars were all she had had since early the day before and she wanted real food. She good-naturedly went along with her detail; they told her that they would probably be pulled in the next day or so; she was very happy to hear that.

After eating they went back to the Hospital to see Aliya. They spent about an hour with her then Max went back to work and Liz headed to the barracks to take a long hot shower and change. The Crew was waiting for her. They relaxed for a while then Liz decided to tell them her plan.

They sat there dumbfounded. Then one by one they hugged her and showed their complete support. Liz then decided to check her email; and was glad to see another one from the Congressman.

“Looks good. Should happen soon.”

The General was talking on the phone. “Yes sir. No problem sir. I guess we just need the details. The Mission went very well; we got at least one high level Taliban and also picked up some Intel. No casualties at all. No damage. About as perfect as an operation can go.”

Intelligence in the pentagon was going over the predator feed from the mission. They had identified the Taliban Leader killed. Their number two overall. One of the officers was able to get the SN off of the Apache that had iced him and looked at the others.  
“Well, who else was going to get him?”

SECDEF the next morning was briefed by the CENTCOM commander.

“And finally sir I guess we really do not have to tell you which Apache Driver iced the head honcho.”

He looked at the CENTCOM commander and smiled. “IT was only logical.”

Liz got a call to head to HQ first thing the next morning. She hoped she knew the reason why.

The General was waiting for her in his office. She took the seat offered and waited.

“Captain you are sure of this?”

“Absolutely.”

“Very well. The President has made the request and it has been approved. You just need to start on the paperwork. You do realize that it will be quite a bit?”

“Yes sir.”

He handed her a thick folder. “Get started on it. Have you told her yet?”

“Not yet, sir. I was NOT going to get her hopes up.”

“Good decision.”

Liz walked out of the building and got into the Hummer with her detail following. She made a decision and as they parked at the Hospital she turned to her driver.

“I am going to adopt Aliya. It’s been approved and I just have to fill out tons of paperwork.”

The driver blinked then smiled widely. “Congratulations, Captain. And DAMN WELL DONE!”

Liz headed into the hospital and asked to see Aliya’s doctor; she was told he would be by her room in a little bit. She went into the room and found Aliya awake and with a book. She saw that it was a book of Afghan/English translation. She knew that her parents had been teaching Aliya to read, and this was a good sign. She clearly wanted to talk. She smiled at Liz and started to put down the book- Liz motioned her that she wanted the book and the girl gave it to her. Liz began to leaf through it; she had some post-its and used them to mark the word and pages.

Aliya watched with interest. Liz was trying to tell her something.

Finally done Liz handed her the book, showing the order she wanted Aliya to read. Aliya began to work it out as Liz waited with baited breath.

Aliya’s eyes widened; then she went over it again. The same answer. She looked at Liz with huge eyes. Liz smiled widely and took her hand and nodded yes. Aliya’s eyes filled with tears and she began to cry; Liz got onto the bed and held the little girl as she cried. The Doctor came in and saw this and waited; he noticed the book on the side and picked it up. He read the areas designated and was amazed; then asked himself why he should be?

Aliya began to calm down. Liz still stroking her hair and crooning to her as she held her. Aliya finally sat back; she looked tired and Liz stood up as the doctor checked her and told Aliya to get some sleep. He followed Liz out the door and took her to his office where he closed the door.

“Congratulations Captain Parker. I should not have been surprised. I will need to fill out some paperwork too, I wager.”

Liz nodded and took out the file. She pulled a sheaf of papers and handed them to him. “I have been told it will take a lot of paperwork.”

“I am sure it will; I will get right on it.”

Liz headed back to the barracks; her detail was smiling like loons and she told them to keep it under their green beanies and they grinned and agreed. 

Back at the barracks she started on the many forms. Luckily the Crew was out so she had peace and quiet; the Barracks was all but deserted.

One thing CENTCOM had been wrestling with was whether or not to recommend Parker for another medal for her rescue of the little girl. It was an unauthorized mission so some felt it was better to just let it go. Others felt they would be considered cheap if nothing was done. It was kicked back and forth and CENTCOM decided that if a recommendation for one came up he would approve it but otherwise they would do nothing.

Some in the media and elsewhere thought she should get one. It was pointed out that she had done it without orders so it could not be said to be part of her duty. On one talk show the host decided to really get it out there:

“Should Captain Elizabeth Parker be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor?”

He pointed that it was clearly above and beyond duty; that no one would have known if she had not decided to do anything. She had made the decision on her own; she had risked her life, clearly. She had killed the enemy and rescued a little girl. All that technically fulfilled the official requirements for the MOH. Needless to say it got a lot of attention. But most military background people felt that was going too far.

This began to percolate; and the women’s groups heard about it and demanded that if she was not given that, some other high award should be given. The Presidential Medal of Freedom began to get some attention.

Unaware of this brewing situation, Liz worked at the paperwork. She had gotten in touch with the American Embassy in Kabul, and they had made recommendations as to what to do on some of it. They then told her that a Person would be coming to Bagram to help her with it. That had come about through a call from the SECSTATE to the Ambassador. He called in his aide.

“Captain Parker is going to adopt that little girl she saved. Send someone to Bagram that can help her with the paperwork.”

It was now a week past the incident and it was finally going to the back pages mostly. Though the comments about the Taliban were still, worldwide, very hot. 

In his last meeting with the incoming President, he decided that this situation needed to be touched on.

“Captain Parker is in the process of adopting that little girl.”

The Incoming POTUS blinked.

“Incredible.”

“Not when you look at her record. One other thing that you might have heard about; there is a fair amount of pressure coming from Women’s groups that she should be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I would imagine that could very well gain momentum. I would not be adverse at all from doing it; though some of my advisors think that is going too far. You look at who has been awarded it; and frankly you can argue either way.”

“Are you?”

“I am torn. I have had only brief conversations with her; but I think she would think it too much. She already has a very impressive number of decorations. Yet to not recognize her action seems wrong. It was done without orders strictly on her own authority.”

The Incoming POTUS thought about it. “Would you be willing to leave that up to me?”

“I would. All things considered too many might read something political into anything I do in my last week in office. She deserves better. And there is no reason not to wait until she returns to the US in March.”

“I will consider if fully.”

Meanwhile the outgoing SECSTATE was talking to the incoming SECSTATE designate.

“That pretty much covers what is going on right now. That last incident has REALLY helped us in Afghanistan. If there is anyone better cast for the classic villain roll, it’s hard to beat the Taliban.”

“It is almost as if they work at it.”

“I find it hard to imagine they could do any worse if they were. OH. By the way; Captain Parker is adopting that little girl. The paperwork is in process and the President of Afghanistan has already signed off on it.”

“Really? That is remarkable.”

“The more I learn about that young woman, the more I think that she may be one of the most extraordinary young people of this current age. A finer young woman I find hard to imagine.”

Liz finally got the paperwork done; the doctor got his part done. Now she just had to deliver it to the embassy. Her Detail had finally been dismissed but the Driver had made it plain that he would deliver it to the embassy in Kabul when the time came. So she gave him a buzz and he picked it up.

There had been few missions in the last week; the weather was unusually bad and most days flight operations were not possible. 

Liz had been working in her spare time, which she did have more of, on learning Afghan. Aliya was working on learning English; and doing better at reading and writing. 

Where Aliya would stay after she got out of the hospital and before she left with Liz to the US, had been something Liz had worried a little about. Vicki squashed that as soon as she heard Liz wonder.

“We put a cot in here. We got room. This way she will be around your friends and you as much as possible. She needs to learn how to live in a modern facility.”

Liz had emailed her mother and Maria, Tess and Isabelle about what she was doing. She told them to not tell anyone else about it.

Her mother had been gobsmacked at first; then scolded herself for that. If one knew Liz this was to be expected.

Maria had read it first and squealed; attracting the attention of the others; they had just gotten back to Georgia for their final semester.

“Liz is adopting Aliya!”

They had already started planning weddings; all four of them would be getting married in June. So now they had a designated flower girl.

It had been decided that since the incoming Aviation Brigade would be operational on the 7 of February, that the last mission of the 101st Aviation Brigade would come on the 6th. Several supply missions were scheduled; so far no combat missions were in the works. They would spend the next three weeks packing up and getting their birds ready to be shipped. They were due to leave Afghanistan on 10 March, 2009.

Aliya had been released by the hospital on 18 January, 11 days after admittance. She was still a little weak, and the stitches needed to come out. So she was carefully brought in an ambulance and Max carried her into the building and to Liz’s room and installed her on a very nice little bed that someone had scrounged; not a cot. Liz and the others fussed with her for the rest of the day, since it was a no fly day.

Aliya was bug eyed much of the first day; this was such a totally different lifestyle. Indoor plumbing; neither hot nor cold. Soft bed and peace and quiet at night. Plenty of different new things to do during the day.

The next day Liz carefully took her around to the Operations building and her office; and then to the hanger to show her Liz’s Apache; though now Ted used it. Aliya had been very much the VIP everywhere she went. Liz worked to make sure it was not too much for her. When Aliya had been shown the Apache she had been very quiet. Grunt was right there; and showed her everything about it; even if she did not understand all of it. She touched the side and looked into the front cockpit; she was much too short to see the rear one. She looked at Liz.

“Eagle.”

Liz nodded.

Liz then took her that evening to the mess hall; she was still on a somewhat restricted diet. Liz and the others had helped her to understand forks and spoons. Liz got a small table in the corner; Aliya still attracted a lot of attention which clearly intimidated her; but she seemed to be adapting ok. They ate and Liz took her back to the barracks and put her to bed.

AS Aliya got stronger, Liz took her out more. Liz had to still do lots of paperwork and was working on the deployment back to the states. The good thing about this time of year was that with the relatively quiet nature of the war, they had time to get things done. But there was a lot of work to be done. A full inventory had to be conducted; so that the incoming brigade would know what they had. What could not be accounted for had to be reported. And since Liz was a captain and not currently flying she ended up doing most of those. Very time consuming but not hard. 

Ted was getting in a fair amount of flying in; and Liz had talked to Scooter about that.

“Is he finally officially a pilot?”

“Yes he is.”

“Good. What is the pilot situation going to be like when we get back to Campbell?”

“We will be losing about one third for various reasons. Seems like it will be about average. You will be getting the Company; I will be taking over B Company.”

Liz nodded. More paperwork. Then she had a thought.

“Will any officers be transferring in or do you know? Because right now we really are short.”

“The other two companies have more officers; so we will transfer in one for A company so that the other platoon will have an officer.”

Liz sighed; she had gotten so comfortable with everyone in A Company that the thought of newbies did not thrill her. Scooter figured out what she was thinking about.

“Before our next deployment you will have plenty of time to learn the quirks of everyone. And most of our new pilots will be copilots upgrading inside the Battalion.”

“Next deployment. That will probably be Iraq, right?”

“Fairly certain. Not etched in stone yet; that will not happen for a few more months. But that is what the schedule shows. Though if they keep to the commitment as regards combat troops out of Iraq by end of 2011 we might be the last. And it could very well be cut short.”

“One can hope.”

Liz did not want to think about another deployment but had to be realistic. 

That evening they spent some time with Max. Aliya understood that Liz would be marrying Max when they got to the US. He also made it a point to make sure she understood that he would be adopting her as well. They would be a family.

Max had decided to talk to Liz about things coming up.

“Liz, I know you want children. The question is when.”

Liz nodded. She had been thinking about that.  
“I think I will wait until after my next deployment; that will give us a couple of years to get used to each other and for Aliya to get used to us. I will only be 28 so that is not a problem. And you are not that old.”

He grinned at her. “I will prove that during our honeymoon.”

They had decided to get married soon after they returned to the US. She would have 30 days of leave and his job did not start until May. Plenty of time to get married and settle in; Aliya would stay with Nancy during their honeymoon.

The girls at Georgia were disappointed that Liz could not wait until they all could get married in June but understood. Meanwhile the Crew were deep into marriage arrangements; they had lived long enough in Campbell to know everyone that they would need for a nice wedding. Liz was looking at getting married one week after getting back in country. She had already quietly notified her Company and Battalion commanders. She had also recruited someone to walk her down the aisle.

One day Liz had found Ted by himself in the hanger and had cornered him. He saw a determined Liz heading his way and started looking for emergency exits but wasn’t fast enough.

“Ted. Will you walk me down the aisle when I marry Max?”

His jaw had dropped and then he had grinned like a maniac.  
“Of course, Liz.”

The Crew had come up with endless pictures of wedding gowns; but Liz had been very picky. Aliya had been also recruited. In the end a simple off the shoulder gown had been what she had decided on. Luckily there was one in stock in the nearby town and Vicki had threatened the shop owner with horrible consequences if it was not there when they arrived.

Feb 1 was a very important day. The Spec Ops guys had made a run to Kabul and had brought back a package from the Embassy. Liz had opened it in her room and had smiled. She then pulled Aliya to her and showed her a US Passport with her picture in it. Aliya was now a naturalized US citizen and Liz was officially her parent. The Citizenship had been what the Congressman called his Wedding Present.

Aliya had touched the very important looking papers and then had looked up at Liz.  
“You my mother?”

Liz had nodded and hugged her and cried.

Liz was waiting at the flight line when A company arrived on the afternoon of the 6th of February, completing their last mission in Afghanistan. She hugged Ted and then that night they had a real party.

From that point on things got frantic as last minute problems and glitches, as they always did, hampered the smooth deployment.

It had been decided that Max would leave with Aliya the day before the flight taking the last of the Brigade back to Campbell took off. They would be going by commercial air; though leaving from Bagram.

The next 4 weeks either flew or dragged depending on your point of view.

On the 20th the Special Forces threw a party for the Brigade and it was a total blowout. Liz was a little tearful when saying goodbye to the many good friends she had made in Special Operations. And they made it a point to let her know that they considered her a special friend. And one of them. Aliya was also made very welcome.

Finally Liz stood there waving goodbye as the plane carrying Max and Aliya left on 9 March 2009. She went back to the temporary quarters they were all staying in and tried to get some sleep.

Nancy Parker eagerly waited for the plane carrying her daughter landed at Campbell Army Airfield. Her and many other relatives were impatiently waiting as their loved ones arrived from Afghanistan. As to be expected, Liz was on the last plane. She looked to her right at Max Evans, her daughter’s fiancé. He had a strong arm around her daughters adopted child, Aliya Parker. Aliya was a treasure and such a sweet child. 

Finally the plane landed and to cheers the soldiers slowly walked down the stairs to stand in formation one more time. She and Max and Aliya cheered as they spotted that small figure coming down the stairs.

Liz was as happy as she had ever been, going down the stairs. As one of the more senior officers, she would line up with the others in front of the formation.

Nancy was so proud as she saw her daughter line up with the officers; and it never ceased to make her smile how little Liz was.

The Brigade Commander marched up with the Unit Flag and called the Brigade to attention.

“101st Aviation Brigade. DISMISSED!”

Pandemonium as families reunited. Max, holding Aliya and Ted making sure he had a firm grip on Nancy, made their way and found Liz who hugged her mother first, then Aliya, then got kissed senseless by Max.

Liz had leaned on a couple of people and had managed to get Married Quarters assigned to her even though she was not technically married. She had a hunch that the Special Ops boys had made a call or two; they had a very nice house. They had purchased a lot of furniture online while still in Afghanistan and had had it delivered in the last week. It was a nice 3 bedroom house that looked very good and was reasonably new.

Liz led Aliya through the house and showed her where her room was. Being told and seeing it are two different things. Aliya had huge eyes at the size of the home she would be living in.

Ted and Nancy were in a motel in town with Max. Until she was married he was not supposed to be staying there and they had decided to stick with propriety. Besides a little time alone with Aliya was a good idea anyway. Liz had sold her little car before leaving for Afghanistan, but Max had gotten an SUV that had stayed with a friend at Campbell so they had transportation. They would get a small car just for Liz. Nancy and Max had made sure that the house already had all it needed as regards sheets and pillows and towels and basic kitchen utensils and a complete set of china and plates and such. They all pitched in to unpack and place what was needed. Then went into town and ate at a restaurant. Jet Lag began to catch up with Liz and the others left her and Aliya at the quarters. Aliya was very certain that Liz needed to sleep and Liz was very touched by her concern. By 2000 Liz was dead to the world.

At 0600 Liz slowly woke up. She felt loads better. She had drank a lot of water all during the flight and it seemed to have allowed her Jet Lag to go away quickly. She got up and took a shower then went looking for Aliya. She found her sitting in the kitchen watching TV on the small set her mom had gotten. Liz kissed her then fixed a quick breakfast. Max and the others would not be in until 10 so they spent a few hours just talking; their joint efforts of Liz learning Afghan and Aliya learning English had resulted them meeting somewhat in the middle in a mish mash that sounded weird but worked for them. They would be hitting the Mall with her mother while Max would be starting to look for a car for Liz and doing other male things with Ted.

That day Liz and Nancy introduced Aliya to that particular set of female rituals known as shopping at the mall. Aliya was very wide eyed at the incredible selection of things. Liz and Nancy made sure that she had an entire wardrobe; and that Liz get some new clothes as well. And then of course there were shoes. Liz had decided that Aliya would start school in the fall. She would spend the next 6 months getting her ready. Basic English and reading and writing would be the primary courses Liz intended Aliya to have; but she also needed to start to learn how to interact with other American pre-teens. Liz hoped it would not get too hard for her. One of the things that had had to be decided was Aliya’s birthday, since she was not totally sure of the date. She was 9 years old sometime in January, so Liz had just decided that 18 January was it and that was her birthday. Liz was looking at her starting 4th grade in September.

They had a very enjoyable day and then Max called at 2 to say they thought they had a car possibility so they headed to where Ted and Max had found a small used car lot that had a good Toyota Tercell that was only 4 years old. Liz looked it over and got it. They left that lot with the car. Max and Ted had also got a home entertainment center and big screen TV and some other toys included 3 desktop computers and a laptop for Liz. Aliya would begin to learn how to use one. That evening Nancy cooked a big dinner and christened the oven in Liz’s quarters by baking a pie; which was widely appreciated by all. The next day Liz met up with her wedding party; they would be married on that Saturday. The Crew was introduced to Nancy and Ted; and Ted Dugan as well. Friday Maria and Tess and Isabelle came in and they had a massive slumber party. They got in early and did not stop talking until midnight. The girls were gooey over Aliya. Diane and Phillip had gotten in that day as well and Max’s good friend from his Marine days arrived and they were all ready to go.

Ted checked his uniform; he was in Class A’s as was a number of the Aviation Brigade. The Post Chapel was where the wedding would be held. In the vestry he waited for Liz to show up.

Liz had been very happy that the Crew and her old friends had gotten along so well. She had been a little worried.

Nancy looked at her daughter through her tears. She had wanted and dreaded this day to happen.  
“Honey you look so beautiful.”

“Mom don’t make me cry or I will look like a raccoon.”

Finally she stepped into the vestry. Ted’s jaw dropped.

“You look absolutely gorgeous Liz.”

Then the wedding march sounded and he held out his arm.   
“Showtime!”

The Chapel was almost packed as many of the Aviation brigade had stayed for the wedding. Maria was Liz’s maid of honor and Aliya was the flower child. And very quickly it was done. The Chapel had a hall next to it for the reception and fun was had by all. Vicki caught the bouquet. Max and Liz caught a flight out that evening to Hawaii for the week long honeymoon. Aliya would go with Nancy and Ted to Columbus for the week.

Liz Parker Evans woke up with a strong arm around her – and then she remembered and blushed. A chuckle came from behind her.

“My blushing bride.”

Liz now had no regrets about marrying as a virgin. ABSOLUTELY NONE.

Sun sand and lots of time in bed was how Liz would remember her honeymoon.


	9. Down Time

They settled down in the home and got used to living with each other. Most of the rest of the brigade was on leave as was Liz, technically. But Liz being Liz a full week before her leave ran out she just had to get back to doing things. Max would be home for another month before his job started so he could stay with Aliya. When they were both working Aliya would stay at the base childcare facility which was built with all children from 1-17 in mind. And Aliya would also have the chance to start getting used to being with other kids her age.

Liz walked into the Brigade Commanders office and found that he had gotten in the previous day. New transfers were around but most of the Afghan returnees were still gone. So she got roped into getting things going as she was the ranking 1st Battalion officer present. Their aircraft had gotten in and were being unwrapped and unpacked subject to a full refurbishment.

Liz found herself happy to be busy and got right down to it. She greeted the new pilots and copilots and ground crew. And they started to get things ready for the Brigade to begin operating.

Max spent time working with Aliya on her reading and writing and basic mathematic skills. She was a very bright girl; she just had never been taught much.

The third day back Liz got a call from Brigade to come to HQ. She wondered what was up.

The commander greeted her and took her into the office and closed the door.

“Liz on the 20th of May you will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.”

Liz closed her eyes then opened them.  
“I had hoped they would leave me alone.”

He shrugged. “PR move of course. From what I was told the pressure from the women’s groups never let up. You know in some respects they have a point. The Taliban will never really recover from that incident; and all the others that have been mentioned lately. So if you are looking at it from an impact point of view, it is warranted.”

“Bullshit. They had the film. The Taliban was going down.”

“True. But the contrast between what they did and what you did just made more obvious the differences. Anyway, don’t fight it. It is what it is.”

Liz got home and both Aliya and Max right away noticed she was not happy.

She kissed Max then hugged Aliya and told them what was going to happen. Max looked at her.

“Those that matter will understand. The rest do not matter.”

A week later it was released to the media and Liz hid out as much as she could. Working to get the Company up and running took a lot of time anyway as she was officially now its commander. Griffith was now Battalion XO. She had A company; and LT Sam Rivers came in from C Company. He seemed all right and took over 2nd Platoon. She got Ted as her wingman and Ken as well. Sid Wilson, a copilot in B Company became the final member of 1st platoon. 

The amount of paperwork that being company commander earned her was sad. She was just happy she kept Grunt as her crew chief and the same bird she trusted so well. They were flying by the middle of April.

One quiet day Liz brought Aliya to the flight line. Grunt fixed her up with a flight suit and Liz took her up in the Apache. That was really not allowed but Liz wanted her daughter to understand what she did and this was the best way. Afterwards Aliya was very quiet but let Liz know she had figured it out.

Liz checked her MESS DRESS uniform; all brand new to the latest army regs; including the sword. Taking a deep breath she moved to the designated seat at the table in the White House grand dining hall. Max was on her right and Aliya on her left. Aliya looked very sweet and Max in his tuxedo looked good enough to eat. On the other side was a very proud Nancy Parker in a brand new dress.

Liz was very grateful that only pictures were taken; no questions asked. 

After it was over Aliya fingered the medal dangling from Liz’s neck. She looked up at her mother.

“Pretty.”

As Elizabeth Parker, Captain, United States Army, realized, she had a very good life. 

Liz found that the only place she could really get away from the facts of her life were in the air and at home. Outside of those two areas, her reputation and fame tended to get in the way. Her new copilot was fresh from Flight School, WO1 Roger Sikes. He was a real newbie; fresh from WO school right to Flight school. He had one tour of Iraq with the 10th Mountain as a regular ground pounder. But he had been pretty lucky and had been in a quiet area. So he had not seen much action. He was also in serious awe of Liz. It was sweet in some ways but annoying in others. She could not deny that being treated like someone really special did feed her ego or make her feel better when other things dragged her down. But it was a bit much and from a cold practical point of view was a problem

Ted had been willing to argue with her; and was not afraid to point out when she made a mistake. Which is one of the primary functions of a copilot. Roger was too intimidated and too unsure as a pilot to say as much as boo to her.

She decided to talk to Ed Griffith, the Battalion XO about this. 

“Ed, I really worry about Roger as my copilot. He is so in awe of me that he is afraid to even point out mistakes I make. And you know how dangerous that can get.”

ED leaned back with a sigh. He could see her point of view; but he also was not really willing to push for the kids reassignment. Hah. The Kid. He was actually only a year younger than Liz was. But in this world he was a kid.

“Liz, you need to give him some more time. He has only been your copilot for a few weeks. Outside of the hero worship, do you have any other problems with him?”

“Outside of him being really green, not really. Any deficiencies he has right now will probably disappear after more time and training. I just worry if he has the assertiveness you need to be a pilot. Or even a copilot. The ability to make snap judgments and decisions fast; to see how the situation is going soon enough to be able to react and respond.”

“And that should come with time.”

“I hope.”

Luckily, Liz’s guardian angel was once again at work.

Ted had been noticing that Liz was a little put out by her copilot; as her wingman he was in a position to see more than most. And knowing her helped as well. So one day he was in the mess hall and noticed her copilot by himself, studying a flight manual. He decided the kid needed some help.

Roger looked up as Ted sat down. Ted looked at the manual.   
“Roger, you do not have to study 24/7. You are allowed to eat without it.”

He blushed. Ted sighed inside. This kid was so young.  
“I know, but I still have so much to learn. And I don’t want to disappoint Liz. She deserves the best copilot she can get.”

Ted blinked. Now he began to see the problem.  
“Every pilot deserves the best copilot he can get, Roger.”

“But Liz deserves better than me.”

“Do you really think that Liz went right into flight school and started tooling her Apache around like she does now?”

“But she is so good. She is better than my instructor was at Flight School and he had 10 years as an Apache Pilot. Liz is much better and she has only a little over 2 years.”

“Liz had problems early on; we talked about it. She had to work real hard to make it; and even harder to get to where she is now. She was not a natural pilot; she had to learn it all. Combat really teaches you a lot; I was lucky in that because of various things I got a fair amount of time as a pilot over there in combat conditions. So when I was formally promoted I had a big edge over most copilots. And of course watching Liz helped. But I was her copilot from day one; and I saw a very good pilot with rough edges. Who worked like her call sign to file them down. And who kept getting better because of how hard she worked. BUT it takes time and you will not learn as fast when not in combat. You need to take a deep breath and relax a little. And talk to Liz about it.”

At that his eyes got big then he dropped them. “I don’t want to disappoint her.”

“She will understand. More than most will because of who she is. You do know that she hates all the attention she gets, right?”

“Yeah it’s kind of hard to miss. When I was told I was going to be Captain Parker’s copilot the guys told me I was lucky but that I would be in a tough place. I am figuring out what that meant now. I feel like I have to run as fast as I can to just stay in the same place.”

Ted slowly nodded. Yeah this kid and Liz needed to talk.   
“Well when you are finished I will scare up Liz and you two will talk. You both need to hear each other.”

As a company Commander Liz got her own office; it was not big but it was hers and she liked being able to shut the door.

So when someone knocked she was a little bit annoyed; but at the same time interrupting paperwork was rarely a bad thing.  
“IN.” she had seen that in a movie and had liked it.

Ted stuck his head in the door.  
“You got some time?”

Liz grinned at him. “For you always.”

“Well not for me.” He then reached out of sight and dragged her copilot in and plunked him down in the chair in front of her desk to her raised eyebrows.   
“You and Roger need to talk before the kid burns himself out. He does not realize that we were all newbies at one time.”

Liz sat back with a sigh as Ted left and closed the door behind him. She looked at Roger. This needed to get done, she knew that.  
“Roger, if I have shown impatience with you then I should not have and I apologize. Ted was right; all of us were newbies at one time. None of us sprouted from flight school as master pilots. We all have to work at it all the time.”

Roger screwed up his courage.  
“Liz, I just want to be the copilot you deserve.”

Liz sat for a moment trying to figure out how to do this.   
“You are doing pretty good for being as green as you are. And there is no quick fix for that; just time and flight time. You know the basics; you know the foundation of what you need to learn. You just have to build on it. And a lot of that is my responsibility. I was spoiled having Ted; he was already an experienced copilot when I got him. But I bet he told you I was nowhere near as good when I first arrived in Campbell as I am now. And I had a diversion while I was first here that took a couple of months of flight time away from me and I had to catch up. And Ted helped there. So I need to make sure that you are learning while I am polishing; you see that is the difference between us. I have the time and the combat time in the Apache under tough conditions so that I had to learn quick or die. That is one HELL of a motivator. You have not had that. There is no way you will be able to learn things like I learned in Combat here. Just not possible. So clear your mind of the feeling you have to be great. You are learning. All Pilots continue to learn for their entire career; if they do not then sooner or later that will catch up with them. I am at probably 90% of what I can learn in the apache and maybe higher. You are about 50%. You just keep learning and working and you will catch up. I can only get slightly better in comparison. So you will make up the difference.”

Roger took a deep breath, and felt some of the tension that he had been feeling ever since becoming her copilot leaving. He looked at her.  
“Thanks, Liz.”

“I should have had this talk with you without Ted having to force it. That was my failing. I should have noticed that you were scrambling. But it is also the duty of the copilot to tell the pilot that he is having trouble and he needs help. So we both screwed up. I just have less of an excuse. Now I am always happy to ignore paperwork but we have reason. So let’s head out to the bird.” 

They spent the next several days working together and Roger did begin to make up the ground.  
Both Ted and Ed Griffith watched with satisfaction. 

Liz found that being company commander added lots of other ‘little’ duties that when put together sucked up the time. But she made a point of working with Roger as much as she could; and getting more flight time. Rather evilly she started palming off some of that to Lt Rivers. Who was not appreciative.  
“Come on Liz, this is BS.”

“Of course it is, Sam. But it’s BS that has to get done and since there is too much for me you get your share. Comes with being the Company XO.”

One other thing Liz did not like about being company commander was that she had to evaluate everyone in the company from pilots to the ground crews. And also if anyone screwed up it landed on her desk first.

So when a tech on a ground crew got himself drunk and arrested for it, she was the first one called. So she went by Security and the base clink and proceeded to rip him a new one. Which was OK in one way as it allowed her to let off some steam. However it highly entertained a number of people in Security.

“It was funny as hell. He had to be easily a foot taller and 100 lbs heavier and she just ate him up and spit him out.”

“Yeah, I heard her call sign is Doberman.”

“I believe it now.”

Liz then proceeded to convince the JAG to let it go as company punishment. Then had him do every dirty detail for a whole month straight. And she got very creative about dirty details. Which had the whole Battalion talking.

“I heard he just about begged to be sent back for Court-martial.”

“Gotta admit I never saw that done by hand; can see why now.”

It got to the point where his crew chief talked to Grunt.  
“Man, is there any way you can get her to let up on the poor jerk. I ain’t never seen anyone that miserable in 11 years in the Army.”

“He survives this and it does not go on his record. Seems pretty fair to me.”

But it was noticeable that little incidents tended to not happen to those in A company after that.

“What unit you with?”

“Company A, 1st Battalion, Aviation Brigade”

“Wow. I heard you have Doberman Parker as your CO.”

“You heard right and that is why you can go drinking on your own. I saw what she did to the last guy caught drunk and it ain’t gonna happen to me.”

Max had started his job, which while not exactly challenging did have him around the flight line most days. So they got to eat lunch together most of the time.

Aliya was dropped off at the MWR Children’s center where she would be spending her days during the summer until school began. At first there were not many around as everyone else was in school; but she was busy as Liz had talked to the center personnel about her unique needs to become more familiar with life in the US. So some at the center took her in hand and worked so that she learned English and other facets of modern life.

The fact that Aliya had been adopted by Liz flew under the radar for quite a while; it was not until they had been at Campbell for over 3 months that the media twigged on that.

For some time the Army just flat out would not say where she was. When the media began to get very persistent they were then told she was in the US. But not where. Finally some reporters put two and two together and began to visit Campbell. It took them several more weeks to finally spot Aliya at the MWR Children’s center. It was the middle of June and school had just gotten out. So Aliya got to meet more of the children. She had met some from the immediate housing area, but right around where she lived there were not many of her age. Liz had gotten a rather good place and the officers around her were somewhat older; and those that had children were mostly older than Aliya; or younger.

The two reporters, from newspapers out east, had agreed to work together so as to cover more ground. It had mostly been a hunch when they came to Campbell. Since this was where Captain Parker was, they were acting on rumors of how close she had gotten to the little girl whose life she had saved. One day they went to the Children Center since just about any kids of her age would be there and they spotted her.

Aliya was shy; but luckily for her she happened to meet some girls who were not as shy and very friendly. The girls were still too young to really understand her situation. Aliya just told them she came from Afghanistan and had been adopted. Her English was not too bad; and the 3 girls who she got to be friendly with thought she sounded interesting. So they began to pump her for details about her life in Afghanistan. She stayed away from talking about what had happened to her. She just told them she had been adopted by her new mother and she had married a man so she had a new father as well.

The two reporters were not allowed to speak to any of the children nor take pictures which was frustrating. Captain Parker was still a pretty hot news item. She had gotten the Presidential Medal of Freedom only a month earlier. And she had refused hundreds of requests to speak to the media and the Army made it clear they would not order her to.

However they were very sure that that little girl was Aliya. And that Captain Elizabeth Parker had adopted her. Which made the story even juicier. But they had to confirm it.

The Division PR officer was an old hand at dodging questions and giving answers that said nothing at all. But when two reporters have the facts and then dare you to deny them there is nothing a good PR officer can do but try and fall back on the old chestnut, “NO COMMENT.” Which as all PR officers know is admitting that the reporters have the story correct.

So the very next day headlines in two midsized Newspapers in the Eastern US have front page stories about the fate of Aliya. The story was identical in both papers; just which reporter listed first changed.

“Over the last several months there has been a great deal of speculation over the fate of Aliya, the young Afghan girl that most of the world saw shot by a Taliban official. For some time the US Military has refused to give her location. Finally they did confirm she was no longer in Afghanistan. After more delays it was admitted she was in the US. It was thought that she had been adopted somewhere in the US. And it turns out that was true. What these reporters have been able to find out is that Aliya was adopted by Captain Elizabeth Parker, the Apache pilot that rescued her, currently stationed in FT Campbell, Kentucky as commander of A Company, 1 St Battalion of the 101st Aviation Brigade. Captain Parker, who was recently married to a former Marine that had been working at the Air Field at Bagram, apparently adopted the child soon after she was released from the base hospital. We have been able to ascertain that after leaving the base hospital she stayed with Captain Parker in her quarters; then left Afghanistan with her adoptive mother when Captain Parker redeployed back to the US in March of this year. Aliya Parker is now just one of the young girls that live on Ft Campbell with their parents. She seems to be fitting in very well.”

The story went on to talk in detail about how apparently the President had made a personal request of the President of Afghanistan and that it had all been carefully kept quiet.

Liz got a call early the next morning. It was the Division PR officer.  
“Captain Parker, I am sorry to tell you that the media found out about you adopting Aliya. And the story is in the newspapers out East. I am sure the networks will pick it up quickly. You are still refusing to meet with them?”

Liz sighed. “Yes.”

“They are not going to quit.”

“They are not allowed to take pictures of dependents, right?”

“No, they are not.”

“Then let them squawk. Another story will come along. I am not feeding that monster.”

She hung up and then called Max.  
“Max. The media has printed a story about Aliya being here and adopted by me. Could you get off work and go get her and take her home?”

“No problem, Liz. At least it’s a Friday. That gives them a whole weekend to get tired of it.”

“True. Thanks, Max.”

“Why thank me? She is my daughter too.” 

Max stopped by the center and saw that Aliya was with three other girls and seemed to be talking and seemed comfortable. He decided to wait; and went to one of the workers. She was one that knew about Aliya. Max figured a whole lot of people on Campbell knew; but none of them had said anything.  
“A couple of newspapers have printed a story talking about Aliya being her and being adopted by Liz. I was going to take her home just in case but she seems to be getting along well.  
“We keep an eye on her; and yes she appears to be making friends. She is learning English very quickly; and beginning to fit in.”

“Liz and I work on her English every day at home; so I guess it’s no surprise. She is a smart girl.”

“Yes, she is. And the more she interacts with other children, the better it will be for her in the fall when she starts school.”

Max went off to the side where he could watch her without being seen and called Liz.  
“Good news. It is looking like she is already making friends and right this moment is talking with three girls about the same age. I am just going to wait here until they leave then take her home.”  
Liz smiled. That was the best of all possible things; Aliya making friends with other young girls her age.

As it turned out Liz was able to get free a little early and headed for the Center. Nice thing being a Company CO you could do that. She came into the center and looked around. Aliya saw her and immediately ran to her and Liz picked her up and swung her around.  
“Honey. How are you doing?”

“Made friends, Mommy. Come see.” And Aliya dragged her over to meet her new friends.  
Max had started to go over and decided to wait as at almost the same time 3 women headed for the same spot.

Becky Jackson was the wife of a Sergeant in the 1st Brigade, her daughter was Sandy; Ruth Winston was the wife of a sergeant in the 2nd Brigade, and her daughter was Ann; Susan Willis was the wife of a sergeant in the 2nd brigade and her daughter was Nancy. They immediately knew who Liz was.

Aliya quickly introduced her friends, who were a little awed by Liz as they recognized officers by now. The three mothers then moved in and introduced themselves. Liz smiled at them.  
“I am so glad that Aliya is making friends. That will help her so much.”

Since their daughters had known each other for years, the three wives had become good friends as well. Susan was the most direct and outgoing of the three and she started things off.  
“It was an incredible thing you did for her. And then adopting her? It’s like out of a Hollywood movie. Our three have been friends since they started school here; we all got here just over 3 years ago. If they want Aliya as a friend that means something. Liz, we know how tough being a mother is. And you are brand new at it. So, if you have any problems at all call one of us.”  
“Thank you all so much. It is different being a parent out of the blue; but I love her so much. And to have good friends is another great thing. Especially if their mothers don’t mind a phone call now and then asking stupid questions.”

“What may sound like a stupid question to you won’t be to us. Don’t worry about it.”

Liz then spotted Max hovering and called him over. The three mothers had an appreciative eye for Max. Liz saw that and grinned evilly.  
“Ya, he is good eye candy, isn’t he?”

They grinned and Max felt himself start to blush which had Liz peeling with laughter.  
“OOhh, Maxy is very red.”

They all then headed to their cars and Liz promising that she would indeed call.

Later that evening the three wives were talking to their respective husbands.  
Susan: “Met Liz Parker today; her daughter Aliya is becoming friends with Nancy and the others. I guess the media has the story now on where Aliya is and that Liz adopted her. “  
Her husband, Ralph, cocked his eye at her. “So, the POSSE has decided to get to know her?”  
She gave him the evil eye which got a smirk from him.

Becky: “Met Liz Parker today. Aliya is becoming friends with Sandy and the others.”  
Her husband, Sam, nodded. “Having friends will certainly help her get used to things here.”

Ruth: “Ran into Liz Parker at the center; I guess Aliya is becoming friends with Ann and the others.”  
Her husband, Joe, grinned. “So you guys are going to make Liz Parker into a Stepford mom?” And ducked the roll thrown at him.

Liz went home with Aliya and Max and had a good evening. The next morning, she was wondering what they would do that weekend. She got a call at around 9AM from Susan.  
“Liz, this is Susan Willis. Our girls really want to see Aliya. I guess curiosity has taken over. “  
“Well that is great. Where and when?”

“We were thinking of having a get together at Wilkes Park. Everyone bring pot luck around noon. Spend the afternoon since today is supposed to be good weather.”

“Even better. Just tell me what I need to bring besides Aliya and the ball and chain.”

Susan laughed hard. “Oh, I got to tell the girls that. Grab drinks. There will probably be about a dozen of us all together including our worst halves.”

“No problem. We will be there.”

Then Liz had a thought and called the Crew.  
Vicki answered at their apartment; they had decided they needed more and went for off-base housing.  
“Vicki, this is Liz. You guys doing anything today?”

“Not really – this week was kind of hard and we are looking at kicking back.”

“Well I just got invited to Wilkes Park at noon; some of the mothers of some girls that Aliya has become friends with; and their husbands. Its Pot luck. But their hubbies are all ground pounders and I think Aviation needs reinforcements. Waddya think?”

“Let me see what the other two are thinking.”

A minute later.

“They are game. What should we bring?”

“Snack stuff.”

“Gotcha.

“See Ya there.”

Aliya was intrigued at the idea of a picnic. Max was happy to be with Liz anywhere so he was in. They swung by the Commissary and brought a batch of drinks and a couple of coolers and Ice. It would be in the upper 70’s.

Max blinked as he saw Liz in shorts and tank top. And sandals. She looked like she was barely 21. With a baseball cap on she was the cutest thing he had ever seen.

They got there about 1145 and Susan and her family were already there. Just behind them Liz spotted Becky. They greeted each other as they parked their SUV and began to unload. About 5 minutes later came Ruth and hers. And dead on at noon came the Crew. Liz greeted them and they all proceeded to spread out the food and dived in.  
They had barely finished eating when the girls wanted to go out and talk. Indulgently the mothers and Liz let them go. Becky had a two year old boy and Susan had a one year old that they put in porta cribs and they proceeded to sleep.

Meanwhile Max and the guys started talking NASCAR and Baseball while Liz and the Crew and the mothers proceeded to girl talk. They were all about the same age, with Liz being just slightly the youngest and Susan the oldest by a year.

Liz looked around a while later and realized just how comfortable she felt. This was life. It was a good two hours later that the talk seemed to inevitably turn to the war and deployments. The mothers had had to stay at home and worry while their husbands had been in Iraq twice.

Liz sensed that Ruth was the most worried of them, just by nature. So, she made a special effort to emphasize to her that with the current situation, Iraq would be breeze for the next deployment; scheduled for spring of the next year.  
“Way things are, we may be doing very little the next deployment. For us Aviation types it might be a little busier. For me odds are not much at all. Probably not all that much of a demand for air support.”

Vicki chimed in. “Yeah we might still be busy, but the ground pounders and Liz might be bored to tears. Of course, Liz seems to be able to find situations that are downright hairy but that is just her.”

“Hey. I am not that bad.”

Jesse and Ellen rolled their eyes. The mothers grinned. Liz then noticed that Ruth seemed to want to ask a question but was shy about it. Liz reached over and touched her arm.  
“Ask us anything, Ruth. It won’t bother us.”

“It is something that I always wanted to know. You said in that press conference that you were going after Aliya no matter what. Weren’t you worried at all about getting in trouble?”

Liz got quiet, and then shook her head. “Did not even occur to me. When I got the first report about that POS locking her in that shed, I knew for certain she was in danger. The Spec Ops guys knew me pretty well by then; they did not hesitate and one of the Crew there was not worried either. When I was close and heard they were beating her, if I had to level half that village, I would have done it. I was looking through the 30MM sight when I saw that bastard shoot her. My only regret was that he didn’t suffer enough; though I believe he is roasting nicely in hell. I remember holding her as Ted redlined our bird towards the med center. Praying she would make it. Then sitting in that waiting room. The next morning when I saw her in that bed, so thin and pale and hooked up to all the machines, I think at that moment somehow inside me the decision to adopt her was already made. She was my child. And now she is.”

The guys had come up just in time to hear that and Max sat next to Liz and put his arm around her.  
“My warrior Princess.”

Ralph, deciding things were much too serious, proceeded to put an ice cube down Susan’s neck which earned a squeal and a can of coke poured down his shirt. That definitely broke the atmosphere. And the talk became general again.

Late that night as Liz curled up with Max in bed, she smiled thinking back on the day.  
“I think Aliya is going to be fine now that she has made some friends.”

“So have you; getting to know some other mothers is good for you.”

The next few weeks things went pretty well; the media was not allowed to bother them and things gradually settled down. The group began to almost every Saturday gather there and get together. Liz noticed that the Crew were regular attendees as well. She began to notice a few other unmarried soldiers seemed to start showing up as well with the Crew in their sights. OR they were in the Crew’s sights; it was hard to tell. But fun to watch.

Aliya blossomed with the close friendships that she was making with the three girls. Her English seemed to get better by the day and she was acting more and more like a typical American pre-teen girl.

Roger was steadily improving both in his skills and his maturity; he began to question Liz on things that reassured her that he would make a good copilot.

The relaxed times ended in early December when word came they were going back to Afghanistan; this time to the south to Kandahar Airbase. The entire division would be there; though some would get there before others. The 101st aviation brigade would deploy in June of 2010. The good news, such as it was, was that the deployment would be only 12 months not 15. Liz got the news at a briefing for the Brigade before most others knew. The Brigade Commander made a point of talking to her right after.  
“Captain Parker, you should know that there was some talk about not deploying you for obvious reasons. I made the call and put it to the Division commander who took it upstairs. The final decision has not been made.”

Liz nodded then set herself. “Thank you sir. I belong with my company and my battalion. Wherever they go.”

He nodded. “I knew that would be your response. We should know in the next few days.”

Liz left the meeting and headed back to her office where she made a phone call.

“Captain Elizabeth Parker; I would like to talk to the Congressman.”

Not a minute later he was on the phone.  
“Liz, I am guessing something has happened.”

“They are sending my unit to Afghanistan. South this time to Kandahar. There is talk they will not send me. I go with my company and my battalion. Sir I am calling in that favor.”

The congressman sat back. Calling in a favor to GO to war; that was a new one. But not surprising considering who he was talking to.  
“I will get right on it Liz.”

He looked at his aide. “I need to talk to the SECDEF.”

CENTCOM was looking at his XO. “This is getting up here? That is a decision at Division Level.”

“Yes sir. Apparently the Brigade wants her to go; the Division does not.”

“So I get to be the tie breaker?”

“Basically.”

“Congressman, I sense there is something urgent here.”

“Somewhat MR Secretary. A officer I admire very much has been told she might be left behind when the 101st Aviation Brigade is deployed to Kandahar. She is not happy about that; she is very clear that she belongs with her company and her battalion.”

SECDEF did not need to ask who this was about.  
“Normally I leave that to the unit commanders, Congressman.”

“Who would not usually bow to political pressure or appearances.”

SECDEF got the message.

“I am sure that Captain Parker will be with her unit. May I ask if she called you to make sure she went with her unit?”

“About five minutes after she was told she might not go.”

SECDEF smiled. “That is definitely in her character. We need more like her.”

“That we do. And they belong leading in the field; or in this case above it.”

“That they do. You can assure her that she will be going.”

CENTCOM was wondering in this case whether he might have to take it higher; when he was told the SECDEF was calling.  
“Mr. Secretary. Is there a problem?”

“Not as long as Captain Parker is going with her unit to Kandahar.”

“Sir I was going that way but with all due honesty I was going to call you about it.”

“She is most adamant about going and we need leaders like that.”

“I certainly agree.”

The Brigade commander answered the phone.

“I am guessing Captain Parker used her pull as I was told by CENTCOM that the SECDEF expected her to get her wish.”

The Brigade commander nodded. “That did not take her long. It is a very different thing when someone uses their pull to go INTO combat.”

“I am told that that happened a lot more in the past then it does now. Which is sad.”

“I guess it is. Thank you for acting quickly, sir.”

The Battalion commander answered his phone.  
“This came from VERY high up. Captain Parker goes with her unit.”

“Thank you sir.”

“Captain Parker.”

“Captain, you are going. This came from HIGH up.”

“Thank you sir.”

Liz then emailed the congressman.  
“Thank You.”

Liz then went home after making sure her whole Company knew the score.  
After she left Ted looked at Grunt.  
“I was worried they would not let her go. If they had done that her resignation would have been on the Battalion commander’s desk 15 minutes later.”

“Would not have taken that long. I think she keeps a resignation letter that is not dated or signed in her desk.”

Liz dreaded telling Aliya and Max; who would have to stay behind. She knew if they did not have Aliya Max would find a way to go there.

Max had picked up Aliya at school and as they came through the door they saw Liz sitting on the sofa looking at them soberly. They both knew right away that something had happened. Max sat on one side and Aliya on the other. Liz put an arm around each.  
“Afghanistan, Kandahar, in June for a year.”

Aliya moved closer to Liz who tightened her grip on her.

Max sighed. “I had hoped for Iraq which is pretty quiet.”

Liz nodded. “We go where it is hottest; and that is Afghanistan now.”

Aliya softly said “As long as you come back.”

Liz cuddled her daughter and smiled. “That is a big 10-4.” 

The next gathering at the park was quieter and less joyous. Liz knew the wives had been counting on Iraq and a less stressful deployment. 

Ruth was very quiet and Liz once again made a special effort to reassure her.  
“This is the best unit in the US Army ground forces; you have to remember that. And me and my company and the other Apache’s will be there as well. And the Crew and the others will make sure they get there and back.”

Ruth nodded. “I know, Liz. But it is still war. I am going to try and talk Joe into going into recruiting. That is a three year assignment and hopefully when that is over with this will all be over.”

Liz sighed. Actually, she thought that Joe would be good at recruiting, but doubted he wanted to be one. And he would not walk away from this next deployment.

A little later the three wives got Liz off to talk to her away from the others. Liz suspected that they had recruited the crew to distract their husbands by having their boyfriends get a serious NASCAR debate going.  
As usual Susan took the lead.  
“Liz, you know Afghanistan. What are we looking at?”

“Well I was up north at Bagram. But we did talk about Kandahar while I was there so I do know a few things. The Country is lower; the mountains are to the north and most of the fighting will be to the south. Kandahar city will be mostly the Special Forces area; I doubt regulars will be used there at all. So, I am figuring that the ground pounders will be mostly doing garrison duty with some units taking part in attacks to clear areas. Those units will rotate the duties. Even now the Taliban does not like to actually fight our forces because they lose. And they know it. Realistically the biggest threats will be IEDs and suicide bombers. Most of the toughest fighting will be done by Special Forces. That is pretty much as it is right now; though that could change in the 7 months to go before we deploy.” 

Becky and the others nodded.  
“Thank you for giving it to us straight Liz. The guys will try and sugar coat it to try and make it easier for us.”

“I know it is dumb but that is what guy’s do that love their women. We kick their asses for it but it’s in their DNA.”

The three smiled at that and agreed. Liz hoped that she had helped.

Interestingly not long after that the Guys cornered Liz and asked her if the girls had wanted details about Afghanistan.  
“Yes they did and I gave it to them straight. Anytime they ask they will get the truth. They know you guys will try and make light of it if you can.”

Which left the guys with nothing to say.

The Crew was sitting with their boyfriends, all grunts from the 1st and 2nd Brigades. Jesse and Vicki and Ellen pulled Liz down and surrounded her.  
Liz looked around and muttered  
“It is so nice to be popular.”

Jesse grinned some but the smile slid away.  
“Liz, we know this deployment will be different than Bagram. Everything we have heard says it will be harder and more dangerous.”

Solemnly Liz nodded. “Yes it will be. But honestly I think overall you guys might be in the most dangerous positions.”

Vicki and Ellen blinked and Jesse cocked her head.  
“What do you mean?”

“The Taliban and everyone else don’t even try and ambush apaches anymore. Even their dumbest know better than that. The ground pounders are realistically going to be somewhat limited in their missions. More security and guard and garrison duties than anything else. Probably not that many missions where they will really be in a hairy situation. BUT because of how tough it is to run anything on the roads anymore because of IEDs, more and more resupply is done by helicopter. And most assaults are done the same way. And hawks are the easiest target to be had. So in a lot of ways it’s you guys that will be in the crosshairs more than anyone else.”

They all considered this and Liz noticed that their guys had all pulled them in a little closer. Jesse looked at hers.  
“You agree?”

He nodded. And so did the rest of them. 

Liz sat for a moment. She then looked around. “I promise you guys that A Company will not fall down on the job. We WILL be there if called. As a matter of fact the whole 1st Battalion will be there as well. We got good pilots and good commanders, modesty aside. You guys call and we will get it done. Take that to the bank.”

Liz was not aware of how she appeared. The smallest adult present, in shorts and tank top, sandals, looking barely old enough to vote let alone take a drink. But suddenly she stood very tall.

The training regimen began to speed up and intensify. They still had 6 months, but they figured that by the end of April their birds would be in the process of being packed; early May at the latest. And there would be Christmas Leave to factor in. They could do some after but it would not be all that much. Ft Carson training would come in March. While the likelihood was that they would do a lot less mountain flying in the South versus the North as last time, the newbies still needed that training. 

Liz was not very happy about leaving Max and Aliya; she had wanted more time with them to bond as a family. But what was was. So she made it a point of trying to spend as much time with them as she could.

A Company, even to Liz’s somewhat jaundiced eyes, was doing well. Sam Rivers was a good XO and leader of 2nd Platoon. He had experience in Afghanistan as well. Liz had made a point of pulling out maps for the area around Kandahar province and having all the pilots and copilots study them until they were familiar. Then every chance she got she would throw scenarios at them; various possibilities of missions. What do you do under this situation in this area; and so on.  
The Battalion Commander was talking to his XO, Ed Griffith on the companies.  
“So how do they look to you?”

“Pretty good. C Company is still a little rough, but then they also had the highest turnover. They are coming along. B Company is solid; Scooter Winston has them well in hand. A Company is doing very well; Liz is pushing them hard. She has them constantly working on scenarios. Which is something we need to have all the Companies doing.”

“Still wish you were flying?”

“Of course; but the reality is anymore that neither one of us can spend the necessary time staying sharp with all the administrative crap we have to do. And it is stupid and selfish to try and fly when you have not put in the time staying ready.”

“Glad you think that way. It took me a while to admit that. When you reach our level it has to be what is best for the mission and the unit, not what we want.”

Ed cocked his eye. “Why do I feel there is something else in that?”

“Because I got early word that my promotion to Brigade XO will probably happen sometime after we deploy. Which is lousy timing. That means that you will probably get a quicker promotion than you might have expected. Which is what happens in wartime. Scooter will probably become your XO. I know we try and keep pilots in these slots but sometimes that is not possible. Scooter Winston is too junior to get bumped up into Major but that is the way it could be.

Ed grimaced. “Well the extra pay is nice and making light colonel is good; but otherwise that sucks. I see how much administrative shit you deal with and I do not want it.” 

“Suck it up.” 

The other companies started doing more complex scenarios as well; Scooter kicking himself for not thinking of it sooner.

The training was tougher this time because they all were pushing harder. Just about every prior veteran from Afghanistan seemed realize that this would be a rougher deployment. Liz had her people simulate battle damage and practice auto rotations at higher altitudes; it got hairy a couple of times.

Sam was talking to his copilot.  
“Liz is really pushing hard. It is like she has an idea of what is coming.”

“Ted was telling me that at the start of that mission she did the barrel role on, she had a feeling something bad was coming. She never said anything like that again. And that was by far the closest they came to getting splattered. So maybe she has a hunch again.”

She looked at her people and felt very proud. She knew they were sharp and ready. “Hustler” Rivers, “Whistler” Logan, “Stomper” Simpson, “Lobo” Dugan, “Slinger” Wilson, “Hammer” Jones, “Pug” Terrel. She had in her platoon Whistler, Lobo and Pug.

She had decided after the Christmas break that they would try and get as much flight time as they could for the Copilots. They were all pretty green.

Christmas season came close. Nancy and Ted would be coming to visit. She had also been determined to visit Maria, Tess and Isabelle. They, interestingly, all settled in Savanna. Liz was amazed that everyone was able to get jobs there considering the state of the economy but all three families were doing well. Liz, Max and Aliya would be visiting them for a few days between Christmas and New Year’s. The three women had all gone into the reserves to finish out the rest of their enlistment. 

She was truly a joy. And she and the three girls had become as thick as thieves; one of the reasons Liz figured Aliya was doing so well in her first real school. She had adapted very well to life in America.

“So, Chica, how do you feel about this deployment?”  
As usual Maria cut to the chase. Liz and her family had just gotten into town; they were all gathered at Maria’s house, since she had gotten ambitious and found a big older home that needed work. One lucky thing about the bad economy was that homes were cheaper than ever. All three had found good ones. The home had been built in the early 20’s, and was three stories high and had been modernized some in the 80’s. Maria was just looking at finishing it. Michael had his own studio so he was happy. It had 7 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. Liz looked at it and cocked her eye at her friend.   
“So just how many kids are you two planning on?”  
Maria’s blush said it all.

But the good news is that there was plenty of room for Liz and her family, and Maria’s mom as well was there. Diane and Phillip were staying with Isabelle and Alex; and Kyle’s father was staying with him and Tess. 

“It is going to be tougher than my last one; I just know it. I can feel it.”

Maria nodded; they had all gotten used to Liz just “knowing” things.

The girls made a point of spoiling Aliya rotten; which Liz loved to see.

The second night the men had all been exiled elsewhere and the ladies were in the massive living room of Maria’s mansion, as they had all taken to calling it.

Aliya had been worn out with all the shopping and was safely asleep on the third floor. So that left Liz and her three friends and Diane and Amy. Diane kept thanking Liz for getting Max to settle down. Much to the eye rolls of everyone else.

Amy voiced the main concern everyone there had.  
“Just how dangerous will this time be, Liz?”

Liz considered the question.  
“More dangerous for me? Probably not. This is a lower altitude area; most of the fighting is down on the plains. Kandahar City is not where Apache’s will be doing much if anything. Part of what made the northern area dangerous was we were at a higher altitude; which for helicopters is not a good thing. The Taliban has pretty much learned trying to shoot down Apache’s is not a smart thing. They have just about given up on that. Now they try and target the Blackhawks and the Chinooks. So for them it will be more dangerous. The only mountain fighting going on is pretty much done by Special Forces, and they usually have their own lighter and smaller attack helicopters. The reason we spent so much time escorting the Special Ops guys last time was that the range of the operations made it hard to use those smaller ones. And one of their Aviation battalions have been assigned to help them, actually down where we will be this time. I doubt we will be helping them out nearly as much. And most of the hairiest missions last time involved Special Ops. So for me personally overall it is probably not going to be as dangerous.”

Tess was shaking her head and Diane looked at her.  
“What is it Tess?”

“What Liz is NOT saying is that since the Blackhawks and others will be under a greater threat, she will be taking her Apache’s in lower and slower to protect them.”

They all looked at Liz who proceeded to blush. Maria whacked her with a pillow.  
“Chica, we expect the straight dope from you. No sugar coating.”

Liz sighed. “Guys, I guess it is no surprise to you that I already know this will be a hairy deployment. The only good thing about it is that it will be only a 12 month one, not 15 month. Apaches are the big guns of the Aviation Brigade; it is up to us to protect the others and give support to the grunts. It goes with the territory.”

Diane decided to ask another question that she had asked Max, but he had not really known the answer.  
“Liz, after what happened the last time, it was a pretty sure thing that you would not be going back to Afghanistan due to the fact that you had become the Taliban’s Public enemy #1. What happened?”

Liz blushed and Isabelle snorted.  
“Liz used her pull with that congressman to make sure she got sent.”

Amy and Diane stared at Liz in shock.

Maria shook her head. “Liz has a very overdeveloped sense of responsibility. As Company Commander she was not going to have her people go in without her.”

Liz grimaced. “It is not just that. I am a very good Apache Driver. I have experience there. There is no excuse for me staying. I signed up with eyes wide open. I will not back out. That is not me. If I had stayed behind I would have resigned from the Army. I guess I could have requested assignment as an Instructor; and I might do that after this deployment. But I was not going to be forced into that decision.”

Amy shook her head. “I guess maybe you really are a warrior. Jim has said that a couple of times.”

Deciding she was getting too much attention, Liz then grinned at Amy.  
“So how is the courting going, Amy? I hear Jim is getting pretty persistent.”

Maria glared at Liz. “I do NOT want to hear about this. Kyle as my step brother is a thought that does not BARE to be considered.”

Tess protested. “Maria he is not as bad as he was. I have been working hard on civilizing him. He only burps at the table now and then and he has remembered to put the toilet seat down for several months now.”

They all laughed at that. And things eased up.

Diane was interested in how Aliya was doing.  
“Aliya seems to be adapting well to life here.”

Liz smiled brightly at that.  
“Ya. She really has. Making friends like she did early on has made a huge difference. She is no longer as shy or as timid. She is growing up and getting more confident. I just wish I had had more time with her before deploying again. But Max will be there for her.”

Diane shook her head. “Max told me that otherwise he would have found a way to find work with a contractor there. I am glad that he is staying here.”

“I will miss having him close. But I will also be happier with him here taking care of Aliya.”

Maria shook her head. “Enough depressing crap. Now for the good news.”  
She blushed slightly. “I am pregnant.”

And that took care of depressing subjects for the rest of the night.

Going back to the base and preparing for the deployment was not the most cheerful thing to do, but as always Liz did what she needed to do.  
True to her plan, the company spent a lot of time during the remaining month they had their birds getting as much flight time for the Copilots as they could. And practicing shooting everything. While 2.75 rockets were being used less and less Liz insisted that everyone keep practicing with them. She pushed for more live Hellfire shooting as well. 

Finally they saw their choppers taken off of flight status and starting the process of preparing them for shipment. That left them with working on all the other details of preparing for a combat deployment. One thing that Liz had to do that she had not done much with last time was prepare a will. Before it would not have mattered as everything would have gone to her mother. But now with a husband and child things were much more complicated and she did a proper will.

One night Liz and Max lay in bed and Max realized that Liz had something to talk about. So he spooned her and whispered in her ear.  
“Come on, Liz. Just get it out.”

“Max, if I don’t come back…”

“Liz, please…”

“No Max we have to talk about this. We need to make contingency plans just in case. I know for instance that you do not think much of your job. So you will quit it and find something you like. I think it would be best to try and stay in this area; Aliya needs continuity if that happens. And her friends are here. Between my savings and your savings and the increased Life Insurance I have taken out, there will not be any hurry for you to find something. So take your time. If you can stand it, I would like you to think about moving to Savanna where all my friends are and they would help take care of Aliya. After a year or so. I would hate for Aliya to lose her friends, but it might be better for her to go elsewhere where she would not be reminded so much. I know that kind of conflicts with Savanna but it will be your call. And you will not become a monk or hermit. You will give yourself time to grieve and then you will find someone else who can be a mother to Aliya and to give you children of your own. I want Aliya to have brothers and sisters if possible.”

Max was silent for a long time.

“Liz you cannot think you are so replaceable. I never really loved a woman until you.”

“Everyone is replaceable in one way or another. People remarry all the time. Just give yourself a chance. And think of Aliya as well.”

“OK. I promise I will try. Just please do not give me a reason.” 

“I will try my hardest to make it back to you and Aliya, Max. You know that.”

This was a very different leave taking; before there was no one waiting for her back at the base; and that made it so much harder. Liz realized that now she had so much more to lose than just her life. She hoped that that realization would not affect how she led her company and fought her Apache.


	10. Once more unto the Breach, Dear Friends

Flying into Kandahar was much different than Bagram; Kandahar was so much more built up and busy. There was only one runway which was insane; although apparently another was in the works. One good thing was that the barracks and quarters were better than Bagram. They actually had some other amenities as well; though the current commander had run a bunch of the fast food places out of town so to speak. His name was taken in vain quite often. 

Liz had quietly politicked to get quarters with the Crew, even though as a Captain she actually rated something a little better. As it turned out in their particular quarters she was the senior officer. Once again four to a room, and there were 12 rooms in the two floors of that building. It was built like a cheap hotel, though the rooms were better than that. Each room had its own shower and bath and a small kitchenette. 

Rocket attacks and small arms fire at the perimeter were fairly common, and they were told most just sat them out rather than going to shelters. Liz told everyone that it was up to them; she would not order them to go to shelters.

While there was definitely a threat from the outside, Kandahar still offered far more than Bagram did. Jesse summed it up well: more risk and more reward.

The bubble idea had spread from Bagram and the hangers at Kandahar were full of them. Their helicopters had arrived just the day before and it would be at least a week before they were flyable. Then the Brigade would take several weeks to get a feel of things before they took over the duties of the Aviation Brigade about to leave. There were more facilities and better facilities that had just been built than Bagram had, so from that point of view things were better.

They took over the offices of the outgoing brigade, who were still operational, but who had moved temporarily so as to let the new brigade get up and running as soon as possible. Liz found that as a company commander she ended up at more meetings than she had before. Which was one more pull on her time. She was very grateful that Sergeant Alexander Roberts was still the E8, the First Sergeant, and was to her the unsung hero of any aviation company. He was the direct commander of the crew chiefs; he was technically a crew chief himself but rarely had the time to get his hands dirty. 

In the so called glamorous world of Army Aviation, not much was ever said about the support units. Which sucked in Liz’s view because without them the helicopters became massive paper weights. The complexity of an Apache is staggering once you take a close look at it. Avionics (Aviation Electronics) for an Apache is the equivalent of any modern Airliner; with extra things like computers to keep track of multiple targets for Hellfire Missiles and the like. Encrypted communications; hardened for combat. And so on. That takes a lot of work to keep it running in friendly climates; for hot, dry, dusty Afghanistan it’s much harder.

One of the briefings early on consisted of a no holds barred dead straight evaluation of the current situation in Kandahar city and Province. To be blunt, it was not good. Sympathy for the opponents of the National Government (more honest than claiming they were supporters of the Taliban) was high. The National Government was not trusted. Neither was the military or the National Police. Part of that was due to tribal feuds and differences; but a lot of it was due to the plain fact that they were both incompetent and corrupt in all too many cases. Kandahar City was especially hostile. Outside of the City it was a little better. The current overall commander in Afghanistan had been pushing night raids that while better for the troops going in tended to cause more civilian casualties and overall was questionable in its value. What Liz got from all this was that basically the overall plan was just to wear down the enemy over time. And the 101st Aviation Brigade was going to be one of the primary parts of that wearing down; between moving the troops to and from and the Apache’s covering them.

Things began to accelerate as the choppers were made flight ready; vs combat ready. First they were flown to make sure that they had not broken anything on the way; then all their systems were tested; then practice at maneuvering, and firing. Weapon’s practice was a fair amount of fun. This took about three weeks before they were considered combat ready. So right at the beginning July, 2010, the 101st Aviation Brigade took over the aviation mission for the Kandahar Province. Now the Special Ops crews had their own aviation section that supported most of their efforts, but they just did not have enough assets to spread over all the areas that Special Ops covered in Afghanistan, which for all intents and purposes was the entire country of Afghanistan. So on occasion the 101st would be supporting them. Liz had a very good relationship with the SF in general, and had found out that Captain Forrest had ended up down here for his current tour. She had supported his teams on several fairly hairy operations. And then he came by shortly after they became operational. His visit was not by chance and had come from a meeting with the area commander of Special Ops.

“This is not any news to you I am sure.”

“Well, sir, I would have to have been dumb deaf and blind not to notice that we just do not have the organic aviation support necessary to perform all of our missions.”

“Very well put. Down here in this part of the country especially. There are plans to increase the 160th, but that is in the future. Now the good news is that the 101st Aviation Brigade is about to take over. And we have some friends there already, and most of their people worked with us in Bagram on their last tour. Now the real problem is that our friends in the Company pretty much trashed their reputation with the last Brigade here.”

“I was never aware the Company had a reputation that could be trashed.”

“Well that is the semiofficial story anyway. The problem was that the company nitwits in their typical way managed to screw some people in that brigade and from that point on no one wanted anything to do with them. Now I do not blame them at all; in their shoes I would have done the same. The problem is that I have no doubt that the new guys were very explicitly warned about doing anything for anyone from the company. So I will need someone from Special Operations to serve as the go between. So in addition to your regular duties when the company needs to get something done and neither it nor the units of the 160th here can do it, you will need to talk to them.”

“Well I can guess what kind of rep I will get after a couple of those missions.”

“We all have to make sacrifices, Captain.” 

“Well, Captain Parker now has Company A of their Apache Battalion and I know her fairly well. Though I was really surprised they sent her back here, considering the size of the Bull’s-eye the Taliban will have on her.”

“The word I got was that she had her tame congressman call the SECDEF and demand she go along with her unit.”

“You don’t see much of that anymore.”

“You don’t see ANY of that anymore is the factual answer.”

“Well then I guess I will have a talk with her and clue her in. Then ask her to talk to the Battalion Commander. That is probably the best we can do as regards having some Apache Drivers on our side.”

“Good Idea. Now to be brutally honest, Captain, I would prefer any favors asked to be for our people and not the company.”

“And if they say no to the Company that is the Company’s problem.”

“Now you get it, Captain.”

So when Captain Forrest stuck his head his head in her door Liz was quite happy to talk to him.

“So, Joe how goes the snake eating?”

“Try rattlesnake sometime; tastes like chicken.”

“I will take your word for it.”

He then got up and after a quick look down the hall closed her door and sat down in front of her desk. Liz raised an eyebrow.

“OK, so this is not just a meet and greet. I was there with you on more than a couple of interesting missions, Joe, so just give it to me straight.”

“Liz, this is a request from my area Commander. It’s not about any particular mission; what it is about is that in addition to all the other fun things I am doing here I am also now saddled with seeing to it that important missions for the CIA get support when our own or their own people are not available.”

Liz looked at him. “The outgoing brigade was very informative about CIA missions and their people.”

He snorted. “I bet they were. And they were right. The Company will screw anyone anytime anywhere. As they proved once again to the people in that brigade. I have no doubt that the 101st Brigade commander will refuse to have anything to do with them subject to a direct order from higher up. And then will do his best to delay obeying until nothing can be done. I do not blame him a bit and neither does my CO. But there are occasions when they actually do have good reasons to do something. What I am here asking is if you are willing to talk to your Battalion commander and agree to listen. I will be the point man – they will not come to you directly. So technically you will be responding to Special Operations requests for assistance. But you will know who really is involved. I can promise you right here and now that you will get the straight dope from me on any mission they are part of.”

Liz sat back and thought about it. Then looked at him.  
“That is of course if they tell you the whole story.”

He grinned; no flies on Liz.  
“There is always that possibility, but we have our ways of finding out things as well. Anything they come up with that really smells I will let you know. And give you the high sign if I think it’s a good time to have serious maintenance problems with your birds.” 

Liz slowly nodded. Captain Forrest had always been straight with her.   
“OK. Let us go have a talk with the Battalion CO and his XO, who used to be my Company Commander.”

The Battalion commander and Ed Griffith looked at Liz then at the SF Captain as they came into his office.

Ed shook his head. “Liz, I thought I taught you better about who to hang out with.”

Liz grinned. “Hey, what’s a little conspiracy among friends?” 

The Battalion commander rolled his eyes and signaled the Captain to close the door.  
“I probably officially do not want to know but tell me anyway.”

Liz began. “Captain Forrest was always straight with me the last time I was in Afghanistan. I agreed to forward his request. You are on Joe.”

Joe then made his pitch. Ed just grunted and the Battalion Commander sighed.  
“I understand your situation. But do you really understand the problems the Company caused for the last brigade here?”

“Yes sir I do. They got screwed royally. But then they should not have taken it personally; the Company will always screw everyone. It is not personal; it is just the way they are. I promised Liz that if I had any suspicion that they were pulling something I would let her know and she could find out that suddenly none of her birds were flight capable for various reasons. I agreed to be the go between. I will not, and I give you my word on that, screw you. If the Company finds out that they are not going to get anything that is their problem. It is not like they can complain to anyone that gives a damn.” 

The Battalion commander slowly nodded. Then looked at Liz. “So you get to be the designated Liaison to Special Operations Command. That is the only way I can sell it to Brigade. Joe asks Liz who then decides if we need to get involved. If she says no that is final.”

Captain Forrest nodded. That was a pretty good deal and frankly better than he had hoped for. He figured Liz vouching for him counted a lot. And that is what he told his CO.

“Well, considering her reputation maybe that is not surprising. But it is also something to remember. If she thinks we screwed her or her people, I would not be surprised if she dropped a dime on us to her tame congressman. Who could really make us regret it.”

“I will just have to make sure that it was the Company and not us. I have never done it and will never do it knowingly.” 

Flying her Apache was still the most enjoyable thing Liz did with her clothes on; before Max it was #1 period. Early July in Southern Afghanistan was not much different than early July in Northern Afghanistan. Getting hotter, still as dusty and still as dry. But up in the air, 3000 feet above the ground, in her Apache, it was a very different world. This day was the last one before they began to support combat operations. The entire company was flying with her, as they practiced some formation flying. And she got to enjoy one last fairly carefree day in the air.

That afternoon came the briefing for their first mission. Two FOB’s would be resupplied by Chinooks from 6 Battalion; Liz would take 1st platoon and cover one while Hustler took the other platoon for the other mission. The entire Battalion was out covering supply missions this day. Actual assault and combat missions would start pretty quickly.

“Well there you have it. Pretty simple really. At least until the bullets start flying. Targets of opportunity are well known; but you do not leave your area unguarded just to pot shoot a couple of insurgents. They could be doing that specifically to lure you away and leave the Chinooks vulnerable. For you newbies, I will remind you all once again that sacrifice for the hard core Taliban means to them a sure path to paradise. Just like the Japanese Kamikaze’s of WW2. No real difference. Those of you that were here in the last deployment learned that the hard way. We were very fortunate that last tour by not having one single Apache seriously damaged let alone shot down. But they came close as Lobo and I can FORTUNATELY testify to. Do not relax; do not take anything for granted ever. You let down, you relax, you get careless the Gods of War will strike you down. Which will be only SLIGHTLY worse than what I will do to you if you are lucky enough to survive.”

The mission began early, before dawn, which would be the usual pattern; less chance of anyone seeing which direction they have gone and maybe getting out warnings. The FOB was about 40 minutes flying time from Kandahar; the Apache’s had one external fuel tank. One good change in procedure was that now it was up to the Company Commander how much fuel they took on any single mission. No more having to go to Battalion. Liz intended to go with at least one aux tank on every mission; and if it was much farther than this one, two. One hellfire pod and one 2.75 pod would be standard. The number of Hellfires shot in Afghanistan had dropped significantly; more and more work was done by the 30MM, which was the most accurate weapon they had. With so much attention on civilian casualties, the pressure was always on to be more precise.

Liz checked the area as they got close; the FOB reported the area clear; it was just dawn. She took her platoon down low and over flew the landing area before taking station at 1000 feet while the Chinooks landed and began unloading. Liz tended to have her people alternate around, switching places and generally trying to be unpredictable in their movements. It took about an hour for the Chinooks to unload. So far nothing. Liz took them down low and buzzed the area then moved out and hovered; watching as the Chinooks took off. Once the Chinooks got to 2000 feet they took off towards Kandahar and Liz kept her Apache’s flanking them. There was no real need to stay around once the Chinooks got to that height; the Taliban had very few SAM’s and most of them were over age Soviet models that were not very effective. Still it just made everyone feel a little better to stay together. The flight back was happily uneventful.

That days flying had been very much routine; no one had really had to deal with anything bigger than some insurgents trying to pot shoot at ranges far beyond the capability of their AK-47’s.

That afternoon came the briefing for an assault mission on a village about 100 miles from Kandahar, slightly north in the foothills before the mountains. A company from the 1st Brigade would hit it; they would be flown in by 14 Blackhawks of A and B companies, 5th Battalion. 6 Blackhawks would be in reserve, 2 of them Medevac. The Crew would be in the lead choppers. Once again A company would be their escort. Since it was thought that they might have more time on the ground, Liz would have her birds take 2 aux tanks.

The Company commander wanted the ships to land right at Dawn, with no flyover by the Apache’s. He wanted his people in that village before most of them woke up. The Division Commander did not agree with the night raids the Theatre Commander preferred and would go that way until ordered not to. It was a lot harder figuring out the real Taliban from civilians as it was, without throwing the dark into it. Now if someone shot at you, they got bullets right back. No matter whom they were. As usual a unit of the Afghan Army would go with them to interpret and to make it clear that this was not just Americans coming to visit.

0500 and they were in the air; Dawn was about 0630. If they got near the target early they would hover and wait; better too early than too late.

As usual the flight there was uneventful; later on in the tour when the machines began to get worn down by the constant missions, it would not be unusual in an assault this big for one of the choppers to have engine trouble. Which could cause all sorts of problems depending on the severity. If it had to turn back one of the reserves would have to go with it as well as one Apache as escort in case it had to land short of the base. As the machines got more worn down more reserve choppers would be going along.

They did get in the area a little early and hovered for 10 minutes 10 miles out before continuing. Liz had her platoon as low cover while Hustler had his as high.

The 16 Blackhawks swooped in and landed on all four sides of the village and the Troopers poured out and swept in. Liz, listening in, did not hear anything out of the usual and the Blackhawks took off and came back to altitude. The Apache’s stayed at 1000 feet, watching everything in the increasing light.

For the first few minutes not much appeared to be happening; then Pug called out.  
“Have six armed firing at troops from wash” 

“Can you clearly identify them?”

“Roger. One has RPG.”

“Take them.”

“Roger used 30MM they are taken.”

That apparently turned out to be the only armed fighters in the village; and subsequently showed to be the only Taliban there. So using a full company was definitely over kill. The good news was that no civilians were wounded. The only shots fired beyond the Apaches were a few that tore down a door on a shed that was locked; in it were found arms and ammunition that was probably Taliban. After a hurried conference with the Afghan Military, it was decided to leave them. There were so many AK-47’s and so much ammunition floating around Afghanistan that why bother with a few. Besides that might be the village’s only protection against bandits. So only 45 minutes after touchdown the Commander ordered dust off. The Hawks came in and in one hour they were all heading home.

The next day came two smaller assaults on smaller villages; Liz split the company up with 1 platoon for each. Once again there was very little opposition and this time the Apache’s did not fire a shot in either case.

Other units were not so fortunate and there was some heavy fighting. But no one was killed and no choppers were more than slightly damaged. 

The next two weeks were pretty much the same; Liz had yet to fire her weapons which really surprised her. Everyone else had. But all the 101st Brigade missions were successful, though not without loss. No choppers had been lost; or pilots or crew killed. But several Troopers were. And some of the flyers were wounded if only slightly.

One month into the combat part of the tour, early in May, came the first mission where it got a little hairy for Liz’s company.

IT was another larger assault; this time half a company in 8 Blackhawks and 4 in reserve with 2 Medevac. This village was not that big but rumor had it that it was fully Taliban. The thinking was that there were probably no civilians in this one; but of course no one could be sure of it. But the predators had been watching it for several days and no children or women had been seen. It was over 150 miles from Kandahar. There were two ways to handle this one; everyone have maximum auxiliary tanks or have a refueling point set up. Just about everyone preferred a refueling point and that was the way it finally went; Liz pushed a little when Battalion was hesitant. They picked an open area about 40 miles from the target and kept a watch on it with UAVs. Then at 0400 they headed to that point; with two Chinooks carrying fuel and a security detail. The landed at that point at 0445 and were refueling at 0500. By 0545 they each had been topped up and they headed for the target. The Apache’s had one external tank; the Blackhawks none. 

Like the pattern was at this time, the Blackhawks came in with the Apache’s; this time Liz let Hustler take the low road. They landed on both sides of the village and the troopers poured out and headed in. They started taking fire early on and returned it, steadily pushing in. Due to the previous intelligence, Hustler was cleared to fire on any armed personnel they saw as long as not accompanied by women or children. Unarmed were NOT to be fired on.

Then the troopers started to take RPG fire and Hustler’s platoon moved in close to assist. More and more it appeared this was a Taliban stronghold.

Liz took a careful look around the village in the increasing light and spotted no movement towards it from any direction. With that she brought the rest of the company down; the Blackhawks had all pulled back. Then the word came in for MEDEVAC and the first one began to land. Liz and Lobo moved down to cover them; and as it landed several Taliban rose up to fire at it; Liz and Lobo blew them away with their 30MM before they could cause damage to the MEDEVAC. Several injured troopers were carried to the first medevac and it took off immediately. Liz detailed Pug to escort it.

More Taliban popped up and were hosed by the Apache’s. Then word came in for the other Medevac. Command indicated that resistance had just about ended. Liz and the others stayed low and watchful. Then the call for Dustoff came for most of the troopers. The other medevac left and Liz had one of Hustler’s people go and he sent Whistler. The troopers had quickly gone through the village and found some arms and weapons caches and set demo charges on them. Nothing else had been found of interest. They were all in the process of taking off when word came back from the refueling point that they thought some enemy forces might be coming close. Making a quick decision Liz left Hustler with the escort duty and took her two remaining Apache’s with her at full throttle. It took only 20 minutes to get there and they did indeed find some moving in and Liz and the others went down low and hosed them. Fuel reports indicated that everyone could get back comfortably with current fuel load so the refuel point rather quickly packed up and took off. They were only a little behind the rest of the flight and Liz stayed with them. 

That was the most action they were to see for a few weeks; the other companies got more.

One day just after a couple of milk runs Captain Forrest stuck his head in Liz’s door. She looked at him and sighed; he came in and closed the door.

“The Company has an operation going and needs some heavy support; everything we have is already committed.”

“What kind of operation and where.”

“They know where a Taliban official is and want to bag him. But they want the Taliban to think he got blown up. So they want to place a body there dressed appropriately and have the building he is in blown up. The Idea is to have the Taliban find traces of the guy and figure he is in many pieces. Now to do this they want an Apache there to use Hellfires; that way the Taliban does not suspect the charges will be set on the ground; you will fire the hellfire and a couple of others and big booms. This place apparently is a bomb making factory so big booms would not be surprising. And this is a full night operation.”

Liz rolled her eyes. “Complicated much?”

“That is their specialty and you are right. But this one is pretty high priority. Liz, I think you ought to take this one yourself; they want as little known about it as possible.”

Liz looked at him. “Like I would send anyone else. So how are we going to do this?”

“You load up and fly out this evening and to one of their bases. About midnight we hit the place. The buildings to be blown will be laser designated by a predator; you just have to make sure the Hellfires are locked on and let them go.”

“Why not use a predator?”

“Because they want to blow up four separate buildings; and if it is done clearly by a helicopter the Taliban will be less suspicious.”

“OK. I will talk to the Battalion commander.”

Right after dark they took off and flew on a precise heading for one hour at near maximum speed. Roger was kind of excited about this; Liz just shook her head and told him he would learn. At one hour they were called and given directions from there. They landed in the middle of what appeared to be a cleared area surrounded by old milvans. After landing and instructions they both got out. Liz told Roger to stick with the bird and she followed a man dressed in civilian clothing into one of the milvans that had been set up as a HQ.  
Once inside the door closed and a dim light was switched on. Liz figured it was no coincidence that the only light focused on a map on a table. The faces of everyone was dimly seen at best; almost certainly on purpose. One of the men did all the talking. 

“Captain Parker here is the area; you will be here at exactly 1250. At 1300 the operation should be ready and you will wait for the laser designator and then fire four hellfire’s as directed by the lasing. After firing you will fly low over the area and then return to Kandahar. With a full tank from here you should have an excellent margin. You are further directed to not mention this mission to anyone anytime in the future. You will make that clear to your copilot as well. Am I understood?”

Liz calmly looked at him and said. “Yes.”

“Very well you may return to your aircraft and wait; take off will be in approximately 3 hours.”

Liz turned and walked out the opened door and followed the company man back to the chopper. She saw Roger supervising the filling of the one auxiliary tank that they had. After it was done and they had checked that the cap was shut and tight she told him to just sit down and wait. Which they did. Liz nodded off after about half an hour. 30 minutes before taking off Roger woke her up. 

Hovering and waiting, Liz waited for the word to drop down to 500 feet where she would fire. The word came at 1305; she lowered from 1000 and took position; the designator buzzed and one by one she fired the Hellfires. 4 very nice explosions. She waited a couple of minutes to let debris settle then flew over the village at about 100 feet. No one would mistake that. At that point she turned the bird on a bearing for Kandahar and took off. She let Roger fly them back to give him some experience in night flight. 

Once they got back they just gave blank looks to anyone that asked where they had been. They got back in at 0300. Luckily her company had no missions that morning so she was able to sleep in some; they had a milk run that afternoon, a supply run to two separate FOB’s. Nothing happened. So she was able to get a full night’s sleep that night.

The next few weeks were a steady pattern; some milk run resupplies; other escort operations.

There still was the occasional rocket attack, but nothing had ever come close to their building. IT was actually fairly comfortable there compared to the time in Bagram; there was more variety of things to do and get. Liz tried to spend some time in the gym, to stay fit. Vicki and the others were frankly Jealous as Liz seemed to have no problem staying small. They were all comfortable with each other; and that was good. Liz emailed Max and Aliya every day or so, keeping them informed of things. And they emailed back with details of their everyday life that Liz clung to. She was coming to the conclusion that while flying her Apache was the best; the rest of the job was not so great. And she was seeing it more and more as a job. The paperwork and other BS that she as a company commander had to wade through was a real downer. 

Liz was seriously thinking that before her next deployment she would request a transfer to the Aviation school as an instructor. With a little luck she could make that assignment last several years. By then she would be a Major and be looking at becoming a Battalion XO. Her active flying days would be about over. Another possibility was to bite the bullet and start taking college courses. But that would inevitably lead to staff positions and the like. She would rather be a flight instructor and then run her string out. Then get out and fly in the civilian world. Without modesty she knew she could just about write her own ticket. She just was not sure how far to take her military career.

It was the beginning of August and the campaigns really began to heat up. Special Ops were all over Kandahar City; that was a real tough nut to crack. The rest of the Division had just about arrived; for the first time in a very long time all the 101st Airborne was deployed in the same place at the same time.

Max picked up Aliya and took her home; Ft Campbell was very empty. Basically only bare bones military left; just dependents mostly. Aliya was doing well; she was worried about Liz of course but the constant emails helped. Liz was usually able to call once a week as well. Max was very lonely without Liz; he began to finally comprehend the feelings of other military men who had left their wives home on deployments. Only for him it was the other way around.

The Special Forces senior command had made the expansion of the 160th SOAR a priority; but that still took time. A new whole unit was being planned as well; many grumbled that this had been obvious for a long time and ignored. Which was true.

Women had been allowed in Special Forces only for staff positions for a long time; but that was gradually changing. They were slowly infiltrating all areas; and aviation was one of the first. Command was actually beginning to consider recruiting them. 

One special project was an attack helicopter that was more survivable then the current models. The Direct Action Penetrator version of the Black Hawk had been one. But a tougher more heavily armed helicopter was needed. A new design would take 10-15 years before it could fly. And no one had made any kind of a major breakthrough that would make it worthwhile. So the geeks started to look at taking what was already out there and significantly improving it. They kept coming back to the Apache; but with some modifications. Making the tail rotor a fenestron; more particularly an electric one. With the new generations of electric motors so much more efficient and powerful, you would not need to bleed power from the main engines; the generators on the Apache already had the necessary extra power. And that kind of tail rotor was less vulnerable to enemy fire. With two separate cables to run power to the motor, which would also make it less likely to be damaged. The tail boom could be significantly narrowed; weight savings. Going titanium for the frame and the body while very expensive would save over 1000 lbs and maybe more; using more powerful engines. A complete upgrade of the aircrafts avionics and communications. The engineers went to their computers and figured that they could overall gain 20% on range; and add 15% on speed. Maneuverability would also increase. New glassine based Kevlar armor would give greater protection for less weight. It would be expensive; but it would outclass easily anything else in the world. An extendable air refueling boom. New composition rotors that would be stronger and more rigid. The stub wings would be articulated fully; the pods built into them, which would then allow auxiliary tanks to be added while not losing any firepower. And tied into the control system would allow better high speed maneuverability. 

This project had been started in 2007; by 2010 the first model was ready to fly. And the initial flights exceeded expectations. Veteran Apache pilots test flew it and loved the new bird.

It was now late August and there were multiple missions almost every day. All the helicopter crews were being run ragged as the new offensive against the Taliban demanded more and more support. Several Blackhawks had been badly damaged and two had been destroyed; but the 101st Aviation seemed to lead a charmed life as regards no one getting killed. But with the tempo and the demands, that was just a matter of time. So far the Apache’s had escaped with only minor damage on a few occasions.

It was the second mission of the day; and the second mission where the entire company was out on a mission. This was another major assault on a Taliban village over 150 miles from Kandahar. This was considered the limit for various reasons. They would base out of a FOB that was only 50 miles from the target. That meant they had to load up and fly there first; refuel and then hit the target and maybe refuel on the way back. 6 Battalion would supply the Blackhawks; and two full companies were involved. As usual with an assault this big, a full company of Apache’s would accompany them. The first mission had been a resupply that ended at 1200; by 1500 they were heading to the FOB where they would land and refuel and wait until just before dawn the next morning. The FOB was primitive and you were stuck sleeping in a tent; which in the very hot weather of mid-summer was not easy to do. A dinner of MRE’s did not make it better.

Liz and the others got what rest they could; she did manage a few hours of sleep. She had an uneasy feeling about this mission. At 0430 they woke up; at 0515 they were in the air and hit the target right at 0545. 14 Blackhawks from two sides dropped off the company of troops; and then flew off to wait; joining the 2 MEDEVACS and 4 reserves. Liz had her platoon down low this day while Hustler went high. The troops surged into the village; from what Liz could see there was very little if any resistance. She told Roger “this is a little suspicious; no resistance.” “Yeah. Not a good sign for what was supposedly a very serious Taliban village.”

The troops found only a few fighters; and not much else. No arms caches; explosives or much of anything. The village looked just about abandoned.

Liz’s bad feeling got worse.  
“Spectre lead to Assault; looks like an empty house.”

“Assault to Spectre Lead. Nobody home. Will be pulling out soon.”

Liz did not like it. “Doberman to Hustler; scout the immediate area.”

“Hustler to Doberman Roger that”

Liz kept her platoon with the Blackhawks, watching everywhere at once.

A few minutes later “Hustler to Doberman; nothing.”

“Roger”

Liz was still worried. When the commander called for Dustoff she ordered everyone down low; 1 platoon to each side, and to keep a sharp eye.

The Blackhawks came in and landed and the troopers poured out of the village and began to board. Liz got tenser; if they were going to do anything it was now.

And sure enough out of concealed areas a group of Taliban popped out. It was clear now that they had kept them going there every night so as to be ready for a dawn assault. And they had gotten lucky in that the 101st had come calling.

The Apache’s jumped right on them pouring 30MM fire and some used Hellfires and 2.75’s. Liz had Roger hose one group with the 30MM and she fired several 2.75 HE’s at another; some of the Taliban were getting hit from multiple Apache’s.

But unfortunately they were not able to get them all in time. An RPG hit the rotor of one Blackhawk just as it was about to take off; it luckily did not explode as the rotor shredded and destroyed the engine in the process. Further in luck no one on the Blackhawk was seriously injured. In an instance of absolute chance another RPG went right through the open doors of another Blackhawk and did not hit anything and kept on going. But their luck ran out as another RPG hit a Blackhawk that had just taken off; it hit the right engine and exploded; the rotor shredded and the Blackhawk fell straight down and over turned, laying on its side. Several others were hit with small arms fire; but only a few were wounded; only one other Blackhawk was damaged enough so that it could not fly. The only Blackhawks left were the three damaged ones.

“Doberman to Hustler; Wipe that village!”

“ROGER THAT!” 

2nd platoon proceeded to use up most of its Hellfires and 2.75’s.

The medevacs were already on the ground as were the reserve Blackhawks.

6th Battalions XO had come along to command; he ordered that the damaged Blackhawks be assessed. In 10 minutes the word came back that the two hit by RPG’s were just about totaled. The less damaged one could be repaired if they could get a crew to it. He then called base; if a Chinook was handy they would send one; if not they would get a repair crew and parts and bring them in.

Liz considered the situation; this would take hours either way. They had about 2hrs flight time left.   
“Doberman to Assault Lead; recommend all undamaged head to FOB; I can have one platoon go with and refuel”

“Assault Lead to all craft; head to FOB. Doberman are you staying?”

“Roger.”

Liz pulled the Apache’s up to 1000 feet and hovered. If fuel looked like it could become a problem she would land and idle. It would not take more than 30 minutes for them to get to the FOB; probably about an hour at most to get refueled. Probably not that long. She had to stretch things.

“Doberman to Whistler and Pug; land and idle down.”

“Roger.”

The medevacs left soon after; the reserve Blackhawks took off as well; no one would be left on the ground. If they were going to repair it the pilots could come back; if the Chinook came they would not need pilots.

Word came back soon that no Chinooks were available; a repair crew would have to come from the base. ETA was 3 hrs.

So they waited; Liz contemplating how this could have happened. Clearly this was an ambush; but how could the Taliban have known this village would be the one hit? Only the mission planners had known; and no one knew which village would be hit when. The Afghan military was not told either. So Liz began to think that they had just had a routine for some time established that they would wake up around an hour before dawn and move to their spider holes. With the level the campaign was at, this village would be hit sooner or later. Liz had seen several come out of holes that had a foot of sand on top of them; there was no way even with infrared they could have been detected prior. Sophisticated Sniffers probably could; but those were very expensive; only the Special Ops had any. And she was not sure that they worked from any distance. She wondered if the really sophisticated infrared could help?

After an hour Liz and Lobo switched out. At the end of the second hour she heard the good word.

“Hustler to Doberman, ETA 15 mikes”

“Roger that Hustler.”

She took off and waited for the others to arrive. When she got to the base it was empty; the rest must have headed back home. She frowned a little at that; it was policy that no group of Blackhawks went any distance without attack escort. She landed and got out. She went to the FOB command tent and poked her head in.  
“They left without escort?”

The FOB commander was clearly not happy. “Yes. Good news is that the repair crew is inbound. ETA at the target is one hour.”

Liz shook her head and went back to the chopper. They were done refueling in just less than 45 minutes; Liz waited until the repair chopper and the spare coming with it were in sight before taking off. She got to the site and told Hustler to take off and refuel and then head home. She had Whistler and Pug land while they stayed up. It took two hours for the repairs to get done; and the repaired chopper took off with the other two; charges had been set in the totaled Blackhawks to totally destroy them, particularly their electronics. They blew as the rest of them left the scene. They all stopped to refuel one more time before heading home. They got in about 1400. Liz found the Battalion commander waiting for her.  
“Were you told about the flight heading back to Kandahar without escort?”

“Nope.”

“Well, I am going to the Brigade commander on this; the 6th Battalion CO does not think it is a big deal.” 

“I think it was really stupid and an unnecessary risk.”

“That is what I think the Brigade commander will say. I know he has not been happy with the leadership of 6 Battalion.”

Liz was at dinner that evening; she ate in the mess hall a few times a week depending on what was going on.

James Winston and Ed Griffith found her and pulled her into a quiet corner.  
“The Brigade commander just relieved the Battalion commander and his XO; they will be on the next plane out.” Came from Winston.

Liz blinked at them. “I am a little surprised he moved that hard and fast.”

Griffith shook his head. “He has been looking for a reason for a while; this way he got both of them at one shot when the Battalion commander said he would have done the same thing.”

“So who is taking over the Battalion and who is his XO?”

“XO of 5 Battalion is going to take it. One good thing is that the planned move of our Battalion Commander to XO of brigade will not come until after we get back home.”

“So are you going to keep flying, Ed?”

“For as long as I can. That makes you more than likely the senior captain –will have to check for sure.”

Liz sighed. “So I am 3rd now?”

“Probably but I will make sure.”

Two days later weather grounded everyone and the Brigade commander called a senior officer meeting; every captain and above. The reverberations were still coming from the relief of 6 battalions Commander and XO. Liz had talked to the Crew about it.

As usual Ellen was the blunt one. “About time for both of them.”

Vicki nodded and Jesse snorted. “I am surprised that it took this long.”

Liz was a little puzzled. “I know he was not well liked; I certainly did not; but I had not heard he was that bad.”

“Actually neither one of them was really incompetent; they just were assholes and got too fast and loose with things. Good riddance. Our XO is a good Joe.”

“Bad thing about that is that I am now 2nd senior Captain in the battalion- at least among the pilots. The company support captain is senior but he is a non-pilot. That inevitably means more work for me. And brings the day closer when I get bumped up to Battalion XO and start getting buried in paperwork.”

The meeting was rather short and to the point.  
“Let me make something clear about the actions of the last day. Relief for cause will happen if I am not satisfied with your performance. And I want this to be absolutely clear; no helicopter goes more than 20 miles from this base without escort. No solo runs at all. And the only way there is no Attack or armed helicopter escort is if there are none available and it’s a critical mission.” 

The Kiowa’s had been used for recon and light attack and escort duties; it was decided to prioritize the Apache’s for the most risky and demanding missions. One problem the Kiowa’s had was they were not as capable at higher altitudes as the Apache was; and they did not have external tanks, though they had better internal tank range than the Apache. They would be used almost exclusively for the shorter range missions and especially anything that concerned Kandahar City.

6 Battalion was lucky in that the unflyable weather lasted for 3 days and allowed them time to accept and get used to the command change. The rest of the Brigade did not complain as it was the first real multi day rest they had gotten since July and the start of operations. 3 straight months was a load. This also allowed the ground crews to catch up on maintenance and then catch up on their sleep.

So it was a rested and more ready Brigade that started operations again. Which was a good thing as some hairy missions came fast.

“So the prototype exceeded all expectations and did not have any major bugs. That is pretty rare.”

“Well, most of the individual improvements have been tested elsewhere; the new engines, most of the avionics and communications gear. The air frame is just stronger than it was; the fenestron is well proven as regards tail rotors.”

“True but sometimes when you put all those components together for the first time unexpected things pop up.”

“Apparently not this time. What does the funding look like?”

“We are lucky; Special Operations still gets the special treatment for funding. Though the congressmen winced when told of the $80 million price for each; more than double a regular Apache. So we will probably get at most 2 battalions; 48.”

The first day flying again there were 3 separate FOBs that required resupply; and all the Brigades Chinooks were split between the three. They were also over 100 miles from Kandahar. So Liz made sure that they had two auxiliary tanks for their mission. It was partialed out one company for each mission. Possibly overkill but you never knew. And on this day it turned out to be a good idea. After noticing that there were bases that had not been resupplied, the Taliban figured out which ones were most likely to get some the first flyable day and had sent in groups to cause trouble. With the beginning of September it was still at the height of summer and very hot and very dry and very dusty.

At two of the FOB’s, the Taliban were not as stealthy as they thought they were and the personnel there spotted them; warned the Apache’s came in and hosed the area and took them right out of the fight. Liz listened to this over the battalion net; she called ahead to their target. All three resupply missions had left at the same time but the one Liz was covering was the farthest away. 

“Spectre Lead to FOB Jakob; any activity noticed? Those people are busy at the other bases.”

“FOB Jakob to Spectre Lead, nothing seen or heard here.”

“Roger.”

Liz had not had any premonitions before this mission as she had before others that had turned hairy. But she decided to take no chances.

“FOB Jakob, just in case we intend to fumigate your perimeter. Will let you know when we are within 5 mikes.”

“FOB Jakob to Spectre Lead, Roger that.”

“Doberman to Hustler, take the North side and we will take the south side. Use up your 2.75’s.”

“Roger that.”

“OK People get ready.”

“Spectre Lead to Jakob, 5 miks to a belated July 4”

“FOB Jakob to Spectre Lead; we don’t have any beer or popcorn but we will be watching.” 

“Doberman to all; FIRE!”

In ripples each helicopter fired 19 2.75” rockets, all HE, for a total of 152 that pretty much covered a great deal of the perimeter of the landing area. That raised up a lot of dust that took a few minutes to clear. Then Liz led her people down to 300 feet after it cleared and hovered, waiting to see if anyone else showed up. The Chinooks came in and landed and began to unload; the Apache’s hovered, waiting. But no one showed. The FOB sent out squads to look over the area the Apache’s had hit. Just before the Chinooks were done and about to leave the word came.

“FOB Jakob to Spectre Lead; we did have visitors; and they have been greeted properly. Thanks.”

“Spectre Lead to FOB Jakob, we are an all services package. Pest removal included.” 

At the mission debrief held for all three at the same time, it was bandied about that maybe in the future for resupply runs that the Apaches should pop some at the perimeter all the time. There was some debate about the increased usage of munitions, but overall the sentiment was to shoot first and ask questions later. The Battalion commander took that to Brigade and it was approved; it would be up to the escort to do so on a case by case basis.

Talking with some of the others, Liz thought that using 2.75’s without any reason was probably overkill; so popping some 30MM first to see if that stirred up things was agreed on. And from that time on it became SOP.

The Brigade commander had taken that up to division and it was debated some; but most agreed that using some 30MM to sanitize the perimeter was probably a good idea. Maybe the most dedicated and disciplined Taliban would continue to hide and wait, but most others would not be able to resist doing something.

So from that time on no resupply was done without first treating the area around the LZ to some preventative pest control. And that did have an impact; incidents during resupply runs to FOB dropped significantly. 

As September ended, the pace of combat began to slacken. The new theatre commander changed some tactics and it seemed to help. The Brigade was just happy to have things ease so that they could properly rest and relax between missions, and the maintenance personnel could get their jobs done and still get enough sleep.

But most of the Afghan vets knew that it would pick up again, especially starting in November before it got really cold.

Meanwhile Liz was thrilled to hear that Maria had had a baby girl; and accordingly she and the Crew poured over the baby pictures. It was a nice distraction. Then she found out that both Isabelle and Tess were expecting as well. 

“The congressman was kind of pointed, wasn’t he?”

“Well he has believed in this for some time and of course what he has seen personally has had an effect.

The SECDEF pondered that. How much of this was because of that? Not that it mattered why; it was a view that was gaining ground. And personally he had nothing against it.  
“Very well, schedule this for the briefing for the President on Wednesday. I am going to have the Joint Chiefs weigh in on it and present their view to him. Some may consider this a small change, but it is significant.”

The President read the memo and the views of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  
“Very well. Make the change.”

“Just got this from SECDEF. Read it.”

“Well, sir that is not a big change.”

“But it is one for us, though some did not know that some of that was already being done.”

“Because we did not exactly advertise. But this does impact some of our other future plans.”

“Yes it does. Well I am going to draft up a memo for the groups. Basically telling them to start looking and examining candidates.”

“They have to apply first.”

“True, but that does not mean we can sound out some we think belong in SF.” 

“What about the 160th?”

“I have a feeling, since this was coming from a certain congressman, that it might just have more to do with aviation than anything else.”

“You think that is what this is about?”

“Partially. But can you blame him? And especially for the 160th, it is due.”

“They have women there.” 

“Staff positions, though that is rather loosely interpreted there. But no pilots.”

“Do you wonder if she is prodding him?”

“From everything I have heard, no.”

“Our first operational SAH-64 will be ready next year. I am wondering if that figured at all?”

“Well, she certainly would be at the top of my recruit list.” 

As summer waned, and the temperatures began to cool off; the tempo of Combat started to warm up. While the new ways of starting off resupply missions had helped there, assault missions were still usually way more interesting than anyone wanted them to be.

It was late September. They had only one mission scheduled that day, which was nice. Another pre-dawn assault. A big one. A full company from the 3rd Brigade would be hitting a fairly good sized village that was reputed to be mostly Taliban. Once again two full companies of the 5th Battalion, A and B, would be involved. 14 going in, 6 in reserve and due to the size and the way things had been going, 3 MEDEVACS. Liz was happy that this time the Crew would be in the reserve choppers. Still she was starting to get a bad feeling. Considering how accurate that had been, she quietly told Hustler that she was getting bad vibes and the word spread. The whole company by now took her inklings very seriously.

Things seemed normal as they formed up and headed out; the strike headed out with no problems. The target was about 80 miles out. Just 10 minutes in, one of the Blackhawks reported engine problems; it quickly landed and one of the reserve choppers took their troops. The mission commander, 5th Battalion CO, ordered everyone to continue on; another Blackhawk was already on its way to escort the wounded bird, which thought they could make it back to base. Liz felt her foreboding increase. The entire flight had continued on and the backup bird caught up. They made up the time and were on schedule. As usual they were going to hit the village from two sides. It was on the foothills, but the terrain was not that rough. Liz decided to listen to her feelings and had the whole company down low, watching, flanking the Blackhawks as they came in. They hit the ground and the troopers headed for the village. As far as Liz could see, surprise was total. The troops all unloaded and the Blackhawks took off. So far so good. Listening to the troopers, they were meeting increased resistance. Liz, listening to her feelings, had not pulled the Apache’s out yet. Even though procedure was to do so in this kind of situation. They were still very low, at about 300 feet.

“Hustler to Doberman; we have hostiles moving in from the west; am engaging.”

“Roger that, Hustler but leave two behind.”

“Roger”

Looking around she could see nothing. Then  
“Pug to Doberman, hostiles coming from the east”

“Doberman to Pug, take Whistler and engage.”

“Roger.”

Liz knew something else was coming. Working on instinct, feeling that the Taliban were trying to divert the Apache’s, she ordered everyone even closer to the village, they were about half a mile out. Looking into the village, the troopers had split it in two and were trying to drive to each end, which would mean they had covered the entire village. The Taliban were resisting fiercely. Then she noticed some buildings that did not look right; if she had not been this close she would have missed them.

“Spectre Lead to Assault Lead, there are concrete bunkers right near your front points. On each end of the village.”

“Roger – will advise.”

The company commander was looking at one. It looked fairly normal until you got right close to it; or saw it close from the air. He noticed that the door looked solid; as did the window. He began to get a bad feeling. He ordered the men there and the ones on the other end to back off; he pulled them back to more than 100 yds away from them and behind some stone buildings.

“Assault Lead to Spectre Lead; have pulled back; take those buildings out.”

“Assault Lead, pull back a little farther please.”

“Roger we are.”

“Doberman to Hustler are you back?”

“Roger.”

“See that strange looking building at the end of that lane?”

“Roger. It does look different.”

“Take it out with a Hellfire- but make sure you are at angels 10.”

“Roger.”

Liz pulled back to 1000 feet and aimed a Hellfire at the building.”

“Doberman to Hustler; FIRE!”

They launched almost together and their missiles hit the buildings- which blew up with considerably more force than empty buildings should have. Even at 1000 feet and probably a quarter mile away linearly, the blast buffeted Liz.

“Spectre Lead to Assault Lead; how are you guys?”

“Assault lead to Spectre lead, a little dusty but no serious injuries. We are pulling out; requesting DUSTOFF.”

The other Taliban fighters had either been killed or had fled or were hiding; the extraction was quick; the CO did not request MEDEVAC so the injuries must have been minor. In 15 minutes everyone was heading home.

At the mission debrief some photographs of the buildings were examined. They had clearly been built specifically to focus the blast outwards; the walls were thin but the roof had been very heavy. It would have acted as a tamping measure, forcing more of the blast and debris outward rather than upwards. Which would have been very deadly for the troops. Clearly the idea was to have let the troops advance until the two buildings were right where the front line was, where most of the troopers would have been close to. Then without a doubt a radio controlled detonation would have occurred. They might have lost half the company.

The Company commander looked at Liz. “What tipped you off?’

She was a little embarrassed. “I had a real bad feeling something was up; then when those forces outside the village started to make trouble something told me that it was a diversion, what could they do, they were fully exposed. So to me it seemed they were trying to keep the Apache’s from getting too close. Because from the air the difference in the buildings was pretty clear. Once you spot them they really stick out.”

“Well I can say without a doubt you saved a lot of Troopers today, Captain Parker.” 

The Battalion commander looked at Ed. “Commendation?”

“Definitely. If she had not been so sharp, so paranoid one can say, we could have lost half a company of men today.”

That got around the division fairly quickly. The Crew made it a point of thanking Liz; one of those she might have saved was Ellen’s current boyfriend. In her own quirky way she made her point.  
“Gee, Liz, you just kept me being able to get laid. Thank you.” 

The Battalion commander noticed that A company was getting more requests to fly escort than any of the other companies. It had been that way somewhat, before; but after the exploding building mission it got very pronounced. 

“Liz’s company is getting very popular.”

“Word gets around. Someone figured that no one had yet been killed on any mission that A Company escorted. Either in flight; landing or taking off; or fighting on the ground.”

“I can see why that would get the soldiers attention.”

On the first of November the Brigade held a ceremony and several people got commendations and medals. Liz got another Air Medal. The company that was there that day was in full attendance and made their appreciation well known.

Afterwards the Crew and she were quietly talking in their room. Jesse looked at Liz.  
“I did a little checking, Liz. Now maybe some Special Operations type has gotten more, but from what I was able to find you are the most decorated US Army soldier of the last 10 years.”

Liz blinked. “I think you might be wrong. There are some chopper pilots that have gotten seven or eight air medals. I have gotten 3. So odds are that there are others with more.”

Vicki looked thoughtful. “Just counting here; you have the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Presidential Unit Citation, DSC, Legion of Merit, Soldiers Medal, Purple Heart, 3 Air Medals and your other medals. You might not be. But you are not far off either.”

Ellen grinned at a clearly embarrassed Liz. “Suck it up, Hero.

Liz just hoped her luck held; for the rest of the tour anyway.

The word went out to look for that sort of thing again; but no one figured the Taliban would try something that had failed and was now known about again. But the possibility of that happening was mentioned and from that time on no uncleared buildings would be passed by.  
December came and things were still pretty warm on the battlefield if starting to get cold elsewhere. Towards the middle of that month Liz got another request from Special Forces; though this time it was for them and not the Company.

“Satellite is pretty sure but the angle is wrong.”

“Predator?”

“Supports the premise.”

“That is pretty high. Nothing can hover at that altitude.”

“Nope. But there are two rock outcrops nearby; just big enough for a Blackhawk.“

“Anyone staying at that altitude, 16,000 feet, would take weeks to acclimatize to that. Even in this country.”

“True, but a great place to hide things. And easy to keep an eye on from below.”

“OK talk to the Rotor heads.”

“Sir, all our birds are too big for that ledge that can get to that altitude. We figure that there is maybe 25, at most 28 feet clearance to the mountain side. Everything that can go that high has a bigger rotor than that.”

“What can?”

“Well an Apache has a rotor that is 5 feet less in diameter. That could make it if you have a real good pilot that is nuts.”

“So that is the story sir.”

“OK, let’s have the satellite take real good pictures and get a very precise reading on that one ledge. Make sure it is possible before asking our favorite Apache pilot to try. We would send our guy as the copilot so that he can go in and look.”

When Liz saw the Captain she sighed and motioned him into her office.  
“OK, what is it this time?”

“Well it is a special one for sure. We think only an Apache can do it. So we would like you to come by and let us know what you think.”

Later on at the Spec Ops compound in the Commanders office she looked at the proposal.  
“You guys are truly nuts. I kept hearing that but until now I really did not believe it. 16,000 feet; have to come up over an 18,000 foot peak and then drop down and land on a ledge that has at most a two to three foot clearance for my rotors. My front seat is occupied by an intelligence weenie who goes in there and looks for something Al Qaeda might have hidden there. Then we leave and hope to fly safely down to the valley below.”

They just looked at her. She sighed and looked at the satellite photos.  
“They are sure there is rotor clearance?”

“Yes.”

Liz sat for several minutes thinking about it. But part of her could not resist the challenge. And what they might find could be huge. This was thought to possibly be the squirrel hole for the whole organization. This had been rumored about for some years. She shook her head and grinned slightly.  
“I guess I am just as crazy. I need to talk to someone with Boeing on this for that kind of altitude.”

“We have a conference call set up for one hour from now.”

Liz rolled her eyes at their confidence.

Liz looked at the numbers. All pods off the aircraft. 100 rds of 30MM her only armament. A half full internal tank and nothing else. It would take over 20 minutes to get over the top of the mountain. But she figured her weight, counting her passenger, would be very light. That should help. The target was over 200 miles away. She would fly to a Spec Ops post that was about 30 miles away. She decided that she needed company and talked them into allowing her to bring one other Apache with her. She chose Lobo of course.

The Battalion commander looked at Liz. “This request came from high up, really high.”

Liz sighed and looked at him. “Cannot say more sir. It is a pretty wild mission.”

“OK. Just come back.”

“Roger that.”

Ted was not happy when Liz gave him some details. But he knew that it had to be very important for her to take such a risk. Roger was not told much; she would drop him off at the base.

It was scheduled for two days later; Liz flew two missions before she left that evening for the Spec Ops base. Grunt was not happy when she told him to unload all but 100 rds and take off all the pods and not put on any auxiliary tanks. It was a long flight and the base was not much. She shut it down and got out. Then they waited. They put just enough fuel in to make a half a tank. She met the weenie, who looked like a staff puke. Glasses and the whole nine yards. It was good that he was not very big. She had a hunch she would be thankful for every pound saved. He seemed friendly enough; Joe Dummel, a captain in Intelligence.

She took off at 0700 and began the climb, holding the chopper on a steady course towards the mountain, climbing to 10,000 and holding till she got close; then she began to climb; as lightly loaded as the Apache was she did well until just over 15,000 when it was clear it was struggling; at that point both she and Joe put on emergency oxygen masks. She pushed it to just over the top of the mountain and started to go down the other side, curving around to maintain as good a forward speed as possible, this was way above what an Apache could do as regards hovering. She spotted the ledge and moved right to it, knowing she could not miss; as she got close to it she could feel the ground effect; and a plus was an updraft; she had hoped for one and that definitely helped. Her altimeter read 16,455 as she closed in on the ledge. Carefully with her telling Joe to watch the top of the rotors she moved closer and closer and then taking her heart in her hand began to set down; and then she was down. Slowing the rotor down carefully, prepared for the bird to start to slip, and she got to idle. She let out her breath in the mask and told him.  
“Go for it Joe.”

He gave her the thumbs up and opened up the hatch and carefully made his way to the cave entrance. Liz concentrated on not thinking about things as she waited; 15 minutes, then 20. Then 25. Then she saw him coming lugging some bags of papers; he had thought to bring plastic supermarket bags, he put them in and got in as well and closed the hatch.  
“Not sure what I got; but I think it’s going to be valuable.”

Liz then began to add power until she felt the aircraft start to move then she headed over and started to go down; the first few seconds were scary as she was dropping fairly fast but she increased the horizontal speed and that got better and as they passed by 10,000 she was able to take the mask off; she was drenched in sweat. Then she headed for the Base. They got in with about 20 minutes of fuel left. She landed it and shut down and began to shake from the effects of all the adrenaline. She then opened her hatch; Joe had already opened his and there were several Company looking types waiting for him. Roger and Ted came towards her; Ted handed her a cold water bottle that she drained in about 10 seconds.  
“I am never doing THAT again.”

SECDEF looked at the report. Then at the president.  
“This answers a whole lot of questions we have had over the years. Who started Al Qaeda and most importantly who was helping them that we did not know about. Using this as a base of knowledge, we can now trace the organization all the way back; and just as importantly go from there and trace these people mentioned, some of whom were never suspected.”

“I believe another medal is owed to Captain Parker.”

“Yes sir. Though it will have to be a classified one. I agree with the Special Operations recommendation for a Distinguished Flying Cross.”

“It is so approved.”

Captain Forrest was back a week later and right away told Liz  
“No mission. Just a little thank you if you can come by tonight.”

“Well in that case OK.”

Liz managed to close her mouth when the Commander of US Special Operations Command pinned the Distinguished Flying Cross to her uniform.  
“Congratulations Captain Parker.”

“Thank you sir.”

The local Special Operations commander then told her. “You can wear the medal at ceremonies requiring full dress and decorations; and it will go in your service file but that is all the attention it can get.”

“Understood sir.” 

Frankly, Liz was kind of hoping they would forget about her for the rest of the time she was there. While it was an honor they came to her, she really did not think that she liked the rate at which the missions kept getting tougher.

The rest of the month was not as tough as the first part had been; and she was happy things seemed to be slowing down as combat typically did as the weather got colder, especially at night. 

Things still got a little tough now and then but the charmed life of A Company and those they escorted continued.

Liz could not help but hope that their luck would continue. Luckily things had settled down in that part of Afghanistan. Even Kandahar City had cooled off.

“When will we be able to go operational with the SAH-64?”

“Rate of production is scheduled for 2 per month starting in January. So realistically in 4 months we could have a company if we stay with the current 8 per company TOE. But it would probably be best until we have 16 for 2 companies and that would be, including time to set everything else up, sometime late in the year. That is of course if there are no delays. Which you usually have.”

“So pencil in the likelihood of not until Jan 2012?”

“That would be a reasonable expectation, sir.”

December started cold in the weather but hot in combat as the Taliban apparently decided to make one more big statement before most combat ended for the winter. However Allied Command also decided that the pressure should be kept up.

Actual Taliban attacks were not very common; outside of Kandahar City. Either pressure was being applied from above or some local commanders decided to try and impress higher command; whatever they did go after some of the Patrol Bases.

This allowed the Apache’s to respond and go after them; and the Taliban were to find out that in colder weather the night vision goggles and infrared sensors of the Apache worked better.

It was actually on the 8th of December, or rather the very early morning of that day, that Liz and Company A got a chance to really do some damage. 

Liz groaned as the phone in their quarters rang; Vicki groaned and put her head under a pillow; Jesse kept on sawing logs and Ellen suggested where whoever was calling at 0100 could put that phone. Liz answered.  
“mmfh Parker.”

“Captain Parker you have an alert for an immediate combat reaction mission.”

Liz woke up quickly. “Understood.”

She rolled out of bed and quickly dressed. Her roommates were already back to sleep. She got to the operations room in 20 minutes. Beating most of the men in.

“3 Patrol Bases are under attack; One UK and One US Marine and One US Army. “  
Liz looked around. “What is available?”

“Your company and the 2nd Platoon of C Company. Right now the rest of the Apache’s are undergoing maintenance.”

She grabbed Hustler and the 2nd Lt that had 2nd Platoon of C Company, Gonzo Jones.

“Gonzo, you take the Marine Base –it’s closest. Hustler you take the Army base and I will take the UK base since it’s farthest. Let’s rock.”

They were in the air 30 minutes later. Liz firewalled the Apache’s as word came back that the Taliban were really serious.

The Captain of the Welsh Guard had pulled his people back into the inner perimeter of their Patrol Base which was in an abandoned village. He figured he was outnumbered at least 2-1. Maybe more. He hoped those yank choppers got there soon.

“Spectre Lead to Patrol Base, What is your situation?”

“Patrol Base to Spectre Lead-we have pulled back into the inner perimeter; anyone you see running right now or moving is the enemy. I will throw an incendiary outside our center position.”

“Roger that- will be there in 5 Mikes” 

“OK People look for the incendiary burning. Outside of that area smoke anyone moving. Pug. You and Whistler take the outer area; Lobo and I will do the inner.”

“Roger that.”

Liz hovered at 200 feet right over the village; she could see the incendiary easily with the night vision goggles. She saw figures farther away moving in and Whistler and Pug started shooting at them. She carefully looked away from the incendiary; the night vision goggles were working well.   
“Roger take the stick-I will be shooting.”

“Roger.”

Liz carefully picked her targets; one by one she popped them with 30MM HE; after about 5 minutes and 11 shots she could not see anyone to target.

“Doberman to everyone; what are you seeing?”

“Pug no more targets” “Lobo no more targets” “Whistler no more targets”

“Spectre Lead to Patrol Base, what is your situation now?”

“Patrol Base to Spectre Lead; I think you got them all.”

“Roger That we will stay and look around for a bit. Will let you know when we leave.”

“Roger and Thank You.”

“You are more than welcome. Spectre Lead out.”

The Captain waited until the Yanks left then poked his head out. He saw nothing then ordered a sound off. Every man answered. He decided to wait until light before moving out of the inner perimeter.

Liz checked fuel status; they were more than half full; then called to the other units.

“Doberman to Hustler, what is your status?”

“Headed home”

“Roger that.” “Doberman to Gonzo, what is your status.”

“Gonzo to Doberman, still engaged.”

“Will be there in 15 Mikes.”

“Roger.”

Liz got her platoon moving at speed. C Company had had things a little rough; their Commander was good but the rest of the Company just was not as good as the other Companies in the Battalion. But that was reality.

They got close and saw that the Taliban were still trying; this was a good sized base and they had committed quite a few in the attack. The C Company detachment was working the far end. Liz would have had split them and had the other two elsewhere; it looked like two of the Apaches were just hovering and watching. Liz shook her head and then ordered her platoon to tackle the far end.

The Taliban were moving towards the base and were easy to see; Liz kept the choppers at 500 feet as they did not need to go lower.

“OK Guys lets line up and start shooting.”

In just a few minutes the Taliban figures were running; which was stupid since that made them all that more obvious. Liz had the three others go after strays and seeing a group of them decided a little more was appropriate; as at the other base she had Roger take over the stick.

She sent a half dozen 2.75 rockets at the group and blew them to pieces. In just a few more minutes no targets were visible. She called out to the other unit.

“Doberman to Gonzo, what is your status?”

“Gonzo to Doberman, no more targets available, Bingo 30MM.”

“Return to Base, Gonzo, we will stay for a bit and then go.”

“Roger, Doberman.”

“Doberman to base; any more business to be had?”

“Base to Doberman; glad you showed up. No more business.”

“We will do a quick patrol of your perimeter; if we find nothing else we will go.”

“Roger and thank you, Doberman.”

They spent 10 more minutes slowly circling the perimeter but found nothing moving. Then they headed home.

Liz went to the debrief and listened quietly. Gonzo did not seem like a bad pilot or leader; just not a really good one. She remained behind when he left. She looked at the Battalion commander. He shook his head.  
“I know. Jackman is pushing but I think it’s just the matter of not having that good a group of pilots. Outside of him and his wingman, that Company is just average. “

“I saw neither good shooting nor good procedures. He had two of his people just hovering when they could have been responding to other attacks on the perimeter.”

“Probably 4 of them will be transferred out of Apache’s.”

“What about their copilots?”

“I think two of them could be good.”

Liz went back and tried to get a couple more hours of sleep. Her ground crews would be busy for a good part of the morning; so they would not be flying anyway.

That morning the commander of the UK fire base called in to commend the Apache support they got; they had found 35 bodies they were pretty sure the Apache’s had taken care of.  
The Army base also commended the Apache’s.

The Marine base was not so happy.  
“That first group of Apache’s were slow to respond and did not seem to want to spread out and take care of the various threats. The second group, Doberman and her people, really got the job done. That first group was fairly inaccurate as well from what we could see when it got light.”

The Battalion commander prepared his report to Brigade.

Later that morning the Brigade Commander looked at his XO.  
“C Company whenever Jackman is not right there just does not perform well.”

“Nothing new; I do not think its Jackman’s fault as much as it is we got some Dud Apache drivers there.”

“Get the Battalion Commander and his XO up here.”

The Battalion commander was not surprised at the summons; and Ed Griffith wasn’t either.

The Brigade commander got right to the point.  
“2nd Platoon of C Company is not good. What can we do to fix it?”

“Do you want to take real action sir?”

“Yes.”

“Then I recommend taking Rivers out of 2nd Platoon of A Company and making him head of 2nd Platoon of C Company. Demote Richards and Hulman and put them on the ground. Promote Charles and Dixon to pilots; they are certified as ready. We have two former copilots of Apache’s in 6 Battalion, put them back in as copilots for the rest of the tour.”

“Who replaces Rivers?”

“I need to talk to Parker on that.”

“Start the paperwork and talk to her,”

Liz sat in the Battalion Commanders office. She sighed when told. Not that she was terribly surprised; she just hated to lose Rivers. She looked at him.

“Whistler for 2nd Platoon commander, I think he is ready. I take it we get one of the upgraded copilots?”

“Fireman Charles. He is ready.”

“OK.”

“Fireman” Charles was happy to get out of C Company and get an Apache with A company. Going from the worst to the best was good anyway; but everyone knew that Parker just had the touch and best of all was lucky. Liz called him into her office.

“First off welcome to A Company. You will be Pug’s Wingman. We will probably have a mission this afternoon so we will have you sit it out while you and your copilot will get to know each other. You will fly this afternoon. I will need to evaluate you before you become operational. We are lucky in one respect that the weather looks bad for tomorrow and the next day. But we probably could fly local.”

It was just a resupply mission that afternoon, but Liz did not like flying with only 3 in her platoon. Whistler got a milk run to get used to leading 2nd Platoon. Liz sighed; this was not something calculated to reduce stress.

Liz got back in time and then immediately took Fireman and his copilot up to start running them through things.

The weather was bad for the next two days but Liz was able to take up Fireman and start getting him used to her ways. She worked him hard for the next two days; and Whistler as well getting him used to Platoon command.

The evening of the third day the Battalion commander came to talk with her.  
“How are they doing?”

“Whistler is doing well; I think he will be fine. As long as he is not operating on his own on anything really tricky. I can see that he will be fine; he just needs to work on being a leader. Time will be his friend.”

“That is good. How about Charles?”

“I think he will be OK. His copilot is solid and that helps. Pug is a good teacher, I think. So the early signs are good.”

The next couple of weeks were fortunately fairly quiet; Liz was very grateful as she worked to bring her company back to the level it had been. The good news was that C Company was looking better.

Of course after that things heated up again as the Taliban seemed to not want to just fade away during the winter as they usually did. And then more fun came from another source.

Liz had just written up her latest Eval on Fireman; Pug seemed to think he was coming along well and Liz saw no reason to doubt it. Whistler seemed to be picking up command well. So naturally just as she started to relax Captain Forrest stuck his head in her door.  
“Liz, I know you have been busy lately reworking your company, but something has come up.” Then he motioned her to follow him back to the Spec Ops compound.  
She walked into the Spec Ops head shed and then almost stopped and stared.

Well this was going to be interesting.


	11. Fork in the Road

“Captain Parker, welcome and take a seat.”  
“This is Wing Commander Simmons of the Royal Air Force and Major Rosythe of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.”

“Pleased to meet you.”

“Pleased to meet you, Captain Parker.” “Good to meet your Captain Parker; and just refer to my Unit as the 2nd Scots.”

“To make this short and sweet there is a special operation going on in Helmand Province. RAF and 2nd Scots will be taking it to a Taliban stronghold. The Problem is that the Apache’s that normally would be supporting them have had some maintenance problems that showed up suddenly. Some parts were faulty and unfortunately they are parts that are unique to the Brit Apache’s. It will be at least a week until they are flying again. Which is a couple of days longer then they think they can delay this operation. It would have gone on in two days. If we can get things going it still will. The RAF will be transporting them and the 2nd Scots will be getting it done. They are used to operating with Apache’s which is why you are being called in.”

Liz nodded. “What base will we be operating out of?”

“Bastion”. 

This got sorted out quickly and the very next morning A Company was on its way to Bastion. The RAF had come in and picked up Grunt and the other crews and a batch of spare parts. It was clear that due to the lowered tempo around Kandahar and the upped Tempo in Helmand that they would be there for a while.

Liz had a quiet conversation with the Brigade commander before she left.

“Captain, you were requested by Name for this mission; and it did not originate from Spec Ops but the British. You apparently impressed them a couple weeks ago and also at Jakob earlier. I think there is a good chance you might spend most of the rest of your tour there. With C Company finally shaping up and things slowing down around here, we can probably spare you. And they need you.”

When they got to Bastion and were situated, the RAF Wing commander made it a point to talk to Liz privately in his office.

“Captain, I believe your Brigade Commander informed you of the likelihood that you would be here for more than just this mission?”

“Yes Sir he did.”

“We have lost the Dutch Apache contingent and all the others. So even when our Apache’s are up and running again we will need you. The Marine attack helicopters are very busy supporting other operations; so we need more than the one Squadron of RAF Apache’s. We will get more Apache’s here in 2 months but until then you are stuck here.”

“I am not surprised sir; and it will be different which might be a good thing; we might have been getting a little complacent at Kandahar.”

“Very good to hear, Captain. You are already well known here and trusted. And that is important.”

Needless to Say, the quarters were not as good as Kandahar; a tent. But it was a pretty good tent and had a heater which worked. So for this time of year it was not too bad. And they had been good enough to put the entire contingent from Kandahar in the same area. Meals were interesting since there was a real mixture available due to the multinational makeup of Bastion. There seemed to be someone from just about every NATO member and from some that were not. Liz decided that while she was here, she would try to sample different things and get to know people from different countries. One of the down sides was that she was unable to email Max and Aliya. She got around that by figuring out how to contact one of the Crew every day or so and have them email her family. 

They got put right to work the next day on the operation with the RAF and 2nd Scots. They had a fairly long meeting the night before with the entire company so as to make sure there were no missed communications. Liz noted that at Kandahar and with the US Army units, language had gotten fairly informal. The 2nd Scots and the RAF were more by the book. Which was probably best. 

They took off at 0800; no dawn attack. That had been explained that since a dawn attack was expected, hitting a couple hours later had the advantage of surprise. Liz was not sure about that, but they might have a point. That was to be seen.

The RAF used Merlins for the assault; pretty good sized. Bigger than Blackhawks and tougher; not as big as Chinooks. 4 of them covered by Liz and her company, which might have been overkill. After talking things over, Liz and 1st Platoon would approach from the west and hover just outside the Village; and then the 2nd Scots would land and move in from the west. It was hoped that everyone would be fixated on the Apache’s. 2nd Platoon would stay with them and flank them as they came in.

It worked like a charm. Liz watched as a number of armed Afghans took positions facing her Apache’s; behind walls. Watching. Liz then slowly brought them in closer. She could see the Merlins land and the Scots move into the camp. Then she could see the moment that the Taliban realized they had been duped and turned towards where the Scots were already in the middle of the village.

“Doberman to 1st Platoon; use your 30MM and pot shoot them.”

Roger had been getting better at shooting so this time he was working the cannon.

Caught between the two fires the fight went out of the Taliban and they tried to run. Which did not help them any. In 15 minutes it was all over.

“Ground Force to Spectre Lead; area secure.”

“Spectre Lead Roger that. We will patrol the perimeter.”

By habit Liz checked her fuel and saw that they were fine; this was only 40 miles from Bastion. By habit they now carried one external tank, so they had more than 2 hrs of flying time left.

Half an hour later they got the word for the Merlins to come in and pick them up. No casualties. Due to the proximity to Bastion, it had been decided not to have a MEDEVAC with the group. And today none was needed.

The mission debrief was indeed brief. The 2nd Scots commander said it all.  
“They were so busy watching the Apache’s that they never saw us until we opened fire. Caught between the two of us, it was all over quickly.”

At noon that day Liz went to a mission briefing for that afternoon.  
The same RAF unit would be doing this one; but those involved were SAS. Liz had heard that a fair number of the RAF really did not like to have much to do with the Crazy SAS. She could sort of see that there in the meeting. It was very stiff and proper on both sides. Only two Merlins and 2 troops of the SAS would be in this operation. Liz lingered after the meeting to talk to the Wing Commander.  
“Forgive me if this is not diplomatic, but I saw some tension between the RAF personnel and the SAS.”

The Wing commander paused for a second, and then nodded.  
“There have been problems. Both sides are at fault. But I can assure you that they will work together. It will not affect their performance. And you were right to ask.”

“Thank you, sir, for your honesty.”

This was more of a Recon so Liz took just the 1st Platoon. The 2nd platoon would remain on call.

It turned out to be pretty much a bust; the village they went to was completely empty; Liz and Lobo buzzed it first and saw nothing; then the SAS moved quickly through it and also found nothing. In half an hour they were on the way back to base. As she got close, she was told that 2nd Platoon had responded to a call for help from a patrol that had been ambushed. They had taken casualties and a MEDEVAC was about to leave; checking her fuel status Liz told them they would accompany the MEDEVAC.

Whistler was tense; the patrol had taken casualties; they had gotten there in time to catch a large number of the Taliban out in the open and Whistler had let them all use some 2.75’s which took care of the problem. Now they had to cover them. When he heard that Liz and the rest of the Company would be there, he relaxed slightly. He was still not comfortable in a command situation.

Liz kept an eye on the fuel, but they were still good when they arrived to where the Unit was waiting to have their wounded taken out. Whistler sounded glad Liz was there; he was not yet comfortable with command. Liz was going to quietly let him know that it was a danger sign when one became comfortable in command in a combat situation; that bred arrogance and carelessness. 

The MEDEVAC took the four wounded and Liz told Whistler to escort them back while she stayed with the Patrol as they headed back to their patrol base.

The LT looked up as the American Apache’s buzzed the area. They had really come in the proverbial nick of time. It was right uncomfortable there for a bit.

Liz was able to stay with the Patrol right to its base before they had to get back to camp. She kept 2 of her people right with them while she and Lobo wandered around the area, looking for anything suspicious. Nothing was seen. 

After the debrief Liz made it a point to talk to Whistler.  
“If you are worried about when you will become comfortable in command it might take a long time. I have never gotten there. And after talking to some experienced commanders, I have come to the realization that if you are you are more than likely to be in trouble of becoming complacent and careless.”

No more missions were mentioned that afternoon and Liz decided to look around and see what the Camp had to offer. It did not take long for her to realize that the Marines in the camp next to Bastion, called Leatherneck, had it a lot tougher than she had it here. Yes she was in a tent; but there were a lot of amenities around that were not in Leatherneck.

She got back to her tent in time to find a message for her to come to Operations. That was a pretty good sized building that had been completed not too long ago. Up to now everything had been talked about at the tents near the airstrip. She had a feeling this was a more formal meeting. She was proven right when upon being shown the conference room she saw the Camp Commander and several other very high ranks. All British.

The Colonel in command stood up and greeted her.  
“Pleased to meet you, Captain Parker. Very glad to have you and your company here.”

She found that the Wing Commander was there along with a Group Captain, who was the overall RAF aviation commander there. And the head of the SAS detachment there, a colonel; and the commander of the 2nd Scots, another colonel. She felt very junior.

The Group captain started it off.  
“This is a meeting to formulate an operation to take control of the situation around Pashkar which has deteriorated lately. The intent is to knock the Taliban back on its heels. That is simple to say, less simple to do.”

What came out of that meeting was a plan for multiple attacks on known Taliban strongholds to last about a week, depending on results. The SAS and 2nd Scots would both be involved hitting different targets. Liz would split her company to cover both. The targets had been identified and a tentative schedule agreed on. It would start the following day. A pre-dawn strike by SAS at one stronghold followed by a morning strike on another by the 2nd Scots. Then an afternoon hit by the 2nd Scotts and the SAS on separate targets. 12 had been identified; it was decided to try and hit four on the first day and then see what the second day brought; it was thought two at least. A signal by the Group Captain kept Liz behind after everyone else left.  
“The Wing Commander informed me that you noticed the problems with the SAS and the RAF. It is not something that will be solved soon, let alone here. Now as the company commander it is us to you to assign your assets as you see fit. But I highly recommend that you accompany the SAS on their strikes.”

“I had already decided to do that, sir. My second platoon commander is new to his command after a situation with another company required some transfers and mine was raided for my XO, who was 2nd platoon commander. He is learning and getting better but he is green. I had already intended to send him with the Scots.” 

“Very good. I can see the decision to request your company was the correct one.”

Liz reflected that sometimes it was not altogether healthy to have a reputation.

The next 5 days were extremely busy; it was all Grunt and the others could do to keep their Apache’s up and running. In addition to the 12 missions eventually performed, they had also gone out on four immediate responses for Air Support.  
The first day started out well as both assaults had no casualties and did hurt the Taliban some, if not as much as had been hoped. The second attack with the Scots also went well. The second assault that afternoon with the SAS was not so good.

Liz definitely noticed the difference with the SAS; she had heard that the US Marine Recon teams were much the same way. Both thought faster was better in assaults. She noted with interest that the US Army Special Forces did not seem to be as aggressive; more cautious.

The attack on the second target was right at 1400, and they had to fly up a valley some to get to it, between two fairly good sized foothills not far from the Mountains; this was an assault that went out 75 miles so she decided on 2 aux tanks. There had been thought of not taking many hellfire’s; of maybe only having one chopper in each platoon carry any; but Liz had resisted that. Due to the distance a British MEDEVAC had accompanied them; she had a hunch the SAS felt somewhat insulted by that. It was a good thing they had. As usual Liz had brought in Pug and Fireman to buzz the village while she and Lobo accompanied the assault. That had worked initially, but it was clear early on that resistance would be much greater here. All four of the Apache’s did some sniping, but the SAS and Taliban were too close for much else. It looked like a very vicious firefight and it was. The SAS smashed through the Taliban but it cost. Liz was right on top of the fight at the end, and used her 30MM to support the SAS as it finished off the Taliban. The MEDEVAC was called in immediately and took off with 9 wounded out of the 34 SAS that had landed. The rest of the SAS pulled out an hour later. Liz had sent Pug and Fireman back with the MEDEVAC.

Liz was very happy to hear that none of the wounds were life threatening when she got back to the Base. In the debrief she noted that the SAS commander was very blithe.  
“They stood up and came right at us; which is much preferred. I am obliged to Captain Parker and her Apache’s for very good close support. It clearly had an effect on them as they tried to watch the sky while at the same time trying to fight us. Did not work too well.” 

Personally Liz felt that the SAS had had some unnecessary casualties. She quietly talked to the Wing Commander later.  
“Sir, it seemed to me that the SAS was happy to stand and fight with the Taliban.”

He shook his head. “Lately we are getting that too much. I am very obliged as well, Captain Parker, for your ground support. I have no doubt the SAS casualties would have been markedly higher otherwise.”

The responses for immediate air support had been nerve wracking; two of them had come at night; responding to assaults on small forward patrol posts. Liz had taken both of them. They had been a little hairy, especially the second one which had her personally taking out 4 Taliban fighters that has some members of the Welsh Guards pinned down. They had been within 10 feet or so of the Soldiers, who reported that they felt the blasts and were splattered with some of the remains.

The other two were handled by Whistler while she was out on other assaults. They had not been as tough, and Whistler had done well. She could see his growing confidence in himself as a commander. 

At the end of the 6th day, the weather got bad enough to ground everyone and Liz was able to actually take a breath. She had been glad to see Ellen on the 5th day, who came in with more spare parts for the Apache’s as well as more of Liz’s clothes and other things which she had asked for when finding out she would be there for a while. Of course she had had to take off on another mission after only getting a few minutes to talk with Ellen.

“And on the seventh day HE rested.” Ted grinned at Liz as they sat in the mess hall on the morning of the seventh day; it was raining some and windy and overall not flyable. Apaches could have if necessary, but no one did anything on days like this; they were so rare. Even the Taliban sat home snug.

“Well I will take it. Being able to sleep in this morning was REALLY nice.”

Ted nodded. He had been a little concerned about Liz; she insisted on taking the night missions while still flying the day missions as well. Grunt was barely able to keep her bird flying. She looked tired, but at least this morning she was looking more rested. He noticed the interesting Looks Liz was getting. There were very few women at this camp; and frankly Liz was clearly the youngest and best looking he had seen. Apparently the rest of the male population agreed.   
“So what do they think was the results of the operation?”

Liz shrugged. “Too early to tell. The SAS commander was happy. The others seemed reasonably content.”

Ted shook his head. “You hear how crazy special ops types are supposed to be; but most of the ones I have seen did not appear that way. But these SAS’s here do.”

“Yeah. They are definitely closer to the edge. I have not worked with Marine Recon but I hear they are about the same.”

“They like you though.”

Liz rolled her eyes. Things got around so fast in a war zone, she had found. The SAS had invited her to dinner one night after their mission. From what Liz had gathered that was VERY rare for them to do. It had been interesting; the SAS were not as wild out of a fight as in it, but you could see the edge there even when supposedly relaxing. They had coaxed her into talking about her time in Iraq at the convoy fight. After describing what she had done, the SAS Colonel had nodded approvingly.  
“Considering you had truck drivers there, that was very well thought out and done. Letting them lay there and scream was a very good touch. I have no doubt that sapped the resolve of the others and did buy you time.”

As she left she was told by several of them that she would do well with them as a Trooper. She realized that that was high praise from them.

The bad weather lasted for two days and everyone was happy for the rest. Grunt especially. He told Liz that if she tried that many missions in such a short period of time again, her Apache would not hold up. Liz told him she would try and remember that.

When operations resumed after that, the tempo definitely had slowed down. It was the beginning of January, and the weather was very distinctly getting colder. Especially at night.

Liz liked only doing a mission a day; but she did not like so much having to send Whistler off on his own as much as she had to. But so far he had done well. What was not fun was the continuing silent feud between the SAS and the RAF. And it was worse as both at the unit level tried to put Liz and her Apache’s in the middle. Each subtly trying to get her closer to their point of view on operations and thus support them in mission planning. She saw both points of view, and tried to be even handed. It was tiring. She found that at least her efforts were appreciated by all sides. The Wing Commander especially.  
“I realize that it is not right that you have to be the mediator, but it is working well. I want you to know that it is very much appreciated here and at the higher levels.” 

So Liz sucked it up and played the game. As was her wont, she put together a plan on how to do this. She kept notes on what worked and did not work from each point of view, and then gave serious thought to combining them the best that she could. Within a couple of weeks, those planning sessions became about as choreographed as Kabuki Theatre; or professional wrestling on a good day. The SAS would propose this and the RAF would counter; or vice versa. Liz would then take part of each proposal and combine them as much as possible. 

One good thing was that after two weeks, the RAF Apache’s were operational again and that took the load off. In a meeting with the detachments CO, it was agreed that the RAF Apache’s would respond to emergency calls for air support, and only if they were not available would Liz’s people go. In return A Company took most of the daytime missions. The Dutch were due back with their Apache’s in January, so that was figured as the time when A Company could return to Kandahar. 

The SAS continued to have the most dangerous missions, but even that had decreased some since Liz had become a buffer. They liked that she was quite willing to take her Apache’s in first and draw the enemy attention. While that tactic had never worked quite as well as it did the first time, it was still effective. What they also tried was one group come in and hover and the second come from another direction, and then the real assault came from a third. Misdirection seemed to work well on the Taliban. The SAS commander believed that it came from being inflexible fanatics. Liz thought that had validity.

Since Liz had made it a point to take as many of the SAS missions as she could, Whistler spent more time with the 2nd Scots. And that time allowed them to work well together; Liz was glad to see that his confidence as regarding command continued to increase.

Liz took some time one day to think back on the holiday.

Christmas came, and the camp had a big Christmas Eve party. Which also had a dance. Liz found that there as a grand total of 21 women there and about 1000 guys. She was glad the weather had turned bad for the next day, as she was absolutely worn out from dancing with about 50 different men. It started at 1800 and went to midnight, and 6 hours of dancing will wear anyone out. Ellen had sent Liz a simple black dress that fit her; and would not tell her where she could have possibly found it. Liz looked great in it; which was bad in a way as she found out that she was the only woman in a dress there. She was very definitely the belle of the ball. Ted told her that the MP’s had to break up about a dozen fistfights from guys that wanted to dance with her but got cut out. Liz really thought that was BS but she found out that a little of that at least was true. She saw a couple of black eyes in the next few days.

They did not start flying again until the 27th, and had to make a bunch of resupply runs. Not much happened that day. But on the 28th came another mission that Liz would have as soon avoided.  
As per usual it seemed, it was an SAS mission into the foothills. Another believed Taliban stronghold. 4 Merlins, one Medevac and Liz’s company. Since only one mission was scheduled that day Liz decided to keep them all together; plus this had not happened much in the last month or so and she wanted to see firsthand how Whistler was doing as a Platoon commander. 

It was very cold; but clear. They left at 0600 and intended to hit the target one hour after dawn. The target was 90 miles away; so Liz had them put on two auxiliary tanks. One pod of 2.75 and one of Hellfire’s. Liz took her platoon in high and visible; the village was in a sort of crook and could only be approached really from one direction; but after looking at satellite photos and maps, it had been decided that her Apaches and the MEDEVAC would be seen coming from the expected direction; the MEDEVAC definitely behind and safe but visible; while Whistler and the Merlins would come over the hill and hit the village from the rear.

So Liz made it obvious but still came in fast then stopped and hovered at about 500 feet just past the boundary of the village. And that is when it all hit the fan.

Liz was looking to see if any movement could be spotted; and so some people running, some with weapons. At that moment the windshield in front of her cracked and then felt like someone had hit her helmet with a sledgehammer – dazed, she called for Roger to take the stick. Shaking her head her vision cleared as she heard Ted call to her.

“Lobo to Doberman, what is your condition?”

“Doberman to Lobo, windshield hit. Did you get it?”

“Lobo to Doberman. I plastered it with 30MM.”

“Where was it?”

“That slightly taller building on this end of the village; you can see dust rising.”

Liz blinked and while her head was hurting her vision was clear. She identified the building and then told Roger. “Going to take out that building with a Hellfire.”

And she did. Making a nice explosion. Her windshield was cracked all over and had a couple of holes in it. Must have been a 23MM down there; nothing smaller could have done that. It would take several hits from a 12.7MM in the same place to do the same amount of damage one 23MM would do. She put her hand up to her helmet and found part of it missing and probed with her hand a little and brought it down; it was covered in blood. She pulled off her helmet-and that HURT- and took a cloth scarf she had and quickly tied it over where it hurt the most. Then put her helmet back on, carefully.

“Spectre Lead to Ground Pounders, what is your status?”

“Ground to Spectre Lead, objective almost secured.”

“Doberman to Whistler, what is your status?”

“Whistler to Doberman, no targets left; village looks secure.”

Liz took a deep breath; her head really was hurting. She ought to order Roger to take them back to base; but for the moment she would wait.

Ted was able to get a good look at Liz’s Apache; the pilot’s windshield was a mess. “Lobo to Doberman, how are you?”

“Doberman to Lobo, I think I picked up some glass fragments. My windshield is toast. Otherwise operational.”

“Roger, Doberman.” He was going to keep a sharp eye on her.

“Liz, how are you?” came from Roger.

“I am OK. But as messed up as my windshield is you will be flying back and landing.”

“Roger that.”

“Ground to Spectre Lead, target secured. MEDEVAC requested.”

“Roger, Ground.”

Liz waited as patiently as she could with her head hurting like it did; but it did not seem as bad. She found closing her eyes helped. It was fairly bright and her visor was broken so the sun was annoying. She sent Whistler off with the Medevac. 15 minutes after it left the SAS was ready to go.

The trip back was OK as long as Liz kept her eyes closed. As they got close she called the Base to inform them that they needed to contact her Crew chief so that he could order a new pilots windshield. Liz had figured that she had taken some glass to the side of her head above her right ear. So when base asked her condition she was rather blasé about it.  
“The glass took a chunk out of my helmet and gave me a cut to the side of the head. It is not bad, though.” 

So when Roger landed and they moved to the normal parking spot, she noticed not only Grunt but some medics there as well. Talk about over reaction. Oh well.

Grunt looked hard as Liz’s Apache came in; the windshield did look like it had been hit several times. No other damage apparent. He was right there as soon as Roger shut down the engine with the British Medic right beside him. He got the hatch open and stood for a moment, stunned.

As soon as Roger shut the engine down Liz carefully took off her helmet, and looked at it. Well, need a new flight helmet. The right side about just above the ear was mostly gone in a gouge that was a good 2-3 inches wide. She looked at that and realized that this was a Kevlar helmet; glass could not have done that.

Grunt stared at his pilot who had taken off her helmet; the scarf was tied around her head above her ear and it was blood soaked; it had been a light tan scarf. He quickly stepped forward.  
“Liz, this looks bad. Let me help you out.”

“It is probably looking worse than it is; I have a headache but that is all. I can get out on my own.” But Grunt insisted on helping her out. The Medic pounced on her as soon as she was on the ground, examining her.

The other pilots and copilots of her company were crowding around, shocked. Liz looked like something out of an old war movie. There was blood all over her head and the scarf was soaked and there was some on her flight suit as well.

Whistler saw a big box and he and his copilot grabbed it and hustled and forced themselves through the crowd and placed it right next to the Chopper and the medic forced Liz to sit on it while he looked over the wound. 

Off to the side a BBC Camera crew had been filming; but this looked much more interesting as they noticed the medic; and then one of them pointed out the Apache with the busted windscreen. They got a good shot of her being helped out of her ship and the two other pilots bringing a big box for her to sit on while the medic checked her out.

Liz kept her eyes closed while the Medic poked and prodded and asked questions. Liz answered the first ones then said  
“Enough about me, Grunt how is my chopper?”

“Liz….”

“Oh, come on this is not bad. How bad is my bird?”

He sighed. “Well until the crowd leaves I cannot see for sure. If it is only the windshield we have spares at Kandahar and they can get one to me in a day. Now the adhesive filler will take one day to cure. So figure two, maybe three days.”

“Well, nuts, I will have to steal one then for the time being. I have to be with my company. I can’t stay on the ground.”

“Well, that is going to keep you on the ground for a couple of days anyway.”

The medic then spoke up. “Yes it will. Now you will be coming to the hospital for X-rays and to have that stitched up. We will need to make sure there is no glass in the wound, though I doubt it. You were grazed more likely by a bullet.”

“Yeah, when I saw the helmet I thought that might be the case.”

Grunt reached in and pulled her helmet out. There was a collective gasp as they saw the gouge in its side and the blood on it. The BBC cameraman also caught that and the reporter had gotten close enough to catch almost all the conversation as well. 

So Liz was bundled aboard the ambulance and driven to the Hospital.

Ted was about to go when he noticed Roger standing there, shaken. He went to him and pulled him away.  
“She said take the stick; then she shot that hellfire and blew that building up. She seemed fine. I did not notice a thing.”

The BBC man caught that as well.

Grunts call to Kandahar went right to the Battalion commander who immediately ordered a spare windshield set to be taken to Bastion that day.

Word spread and Jesse convinced her Battalion commander to let her fly it to Bastion. She was in the air in 3 hours and got to Bastion by noon. She got right to Grunt who was waiting at the strip.

“Liz got a huge chunk taken out of her helmet above the right ear; I found a 23MM rd, TP, embedded in the armor plate right behind her. Funny, if it had been explosive it would have detonated on the windshield and just blown a hole in it. Would have caused a lot less of a problem. It missed taking off the side of Liz’s head by about an inch.”

With nothing else to do but wait Grunt had already gotten the shattered pieces of the windshield off and he and his crew began to replace the windshield.

Meanwhile Liz had been sat down and the wound carefully cleaned and then stitched up after they took an XRAY to make sure there was no other foreign bits in the wound area. Then they made her lie down and rest.

The word spread to Liz’s friends and they all began to try and find out what had happened and how she was. Her new friends at Bastion began to gather at the Hospital. One of the doctors noted this.

“Whoever this yank is she is very popular.”

“You remember a couple of years ago that American pilot saving that young girl that had been shot?”

“That is her?”

“Yes.”

“She is so small!”

Meanwhile the doctor in charge had to give in and allow some of her friends to visit. That consisted of Ted, Roger and Whistler. 

Liz was lying there with her eyes closed; seeming very small and vulnerable. They stopped, wondering if she was sleeping.   
Liz heard someone come into her room and she opened her eyes; her head was not hurting as much but they had told her that only minor pain medication was indicated for the time being. She spotted them and smiled.

Liz opened her eyes and looked at them and smiled and suddenly the room got a lot brighter. She seemed clear eyed and if not for the bandage around her head she would have looked fine; she was not in a gown but just had her tank top on in the bed with the covers pulled up.  
“Hi Guys.”

She got a parade of visitors after that; the SAS and RAF and 2nd Scots.

Then a couple of hours later when the Doctor had said enough visitors Jesse managed to talk her way in.

“Liz; you look comfortable.”

She opened her eyes and smiled at her friend.  
“Hey, room service, peace and quiet and a soft bed. This is not so bad.”

The Brigade commander talked to the 1st Battalion Commander.  
“Not sure how long she will be out; it will take a day or two to fix her Apache.’

“Knowing her they might have to tie her up to keep her on the ground.”

“The problem would be if they have to do a mission for the whole company; there is no one there who can do it. 2nd Platoon commander is way too green.”

“That is true. I can send Griffith over and if necessary he can take one of the other Apache’s.”

Meanwhile the BBC camera crew and reporter were getting background as fast as they could. Once they realize the injured pilot was Captain Parker, THE Captain Parker, they pulled out all the stops. They got the PR officer of Bastion to ok the story. It got sent to the London studio where it went on the 6PM news.

There the director had scared up an Apache pilot from the RAF to talk about it.

“News from the war in Afghanistan. Now some think that the talk of this war being a coalition war being a put on, should visit Camp Bastion in Helmand Province. American Army Apache’s supporting British RAF and Ground forces. Today, actually just hours ago, we received some very descriptive pictures and sound from that base. To give the background, this morning a SAS troop assaulted a suspected Taliban stronghold; once they attacked they found out that it was not suspected at all; it was true. The American Apache helicopters, from 1st Battalion, 101st Aviation Brigade normally stationed in Kandahar but this company, Company A, has been supporting British troops and the RAF at Bastion for the past two months. This company is commanded by Captain Elizabeth Parker, famed for the saving of that Afghan 8 year old girl shot by a Taliban official in footage seen many times over the last two years. Captain Parker adopted that girl; and she is back in Afghanistan on her second tour. Here is our reporter on the scene.”

“We do not have all the facts but we do have this footage of when Captain Parker returned to this base.”

They then showed the Apache coming to rest, zooming in on the shattered windshield, and then the hatch opening up and Liz getting out of the helicopter, blood stained scarf and blood on her flight suit. They saw two of her fellow pilots manhandle a big box for her to sit on. And then her damaged and bloody helmet. And they heard clearly her conversations.

Then the picture switched back to the studio where a former RAF Apache pilot told the audience what was what.

The American Media was not slow to pick this up and demanded answers. At that particular time there was no American Media at camp Bastion or next door at Leatherneck. So they copied the BBC account and ran with it on the late news and then the morning news.

Nancy Parker got a call from Maria; they got the BBC news on their satellite and had been tipped off by friends about it. Max found out when the PR officer at Campbell called him to inform him that his wife had been wounded but only slightly.

The SAS commander was nudged by Captain Forrest to come by and offer Liz the use of a satellite phone. She called Max; and talked to him and then Aliya; assuring them she was going to be fine. It had been two months since she had been able to talk to them. She then called her mother and reassured her. Then Maria and Isabelle and Tess. Finally done she thanked the SAS commander.

He responded by saying simply “We take care of our own.”

Liz was cheered up first by the visit with Jesse then the phone calls home. She began to pester the doctor about getting out of there and was told if she was ok in the morning she would be let go. She convinced Jesse on her way out to have Grunt come by and tell her the condition of her chopper. He came by and told her that nothing else was busted and that they already had the new windshield in place, just needed 24 hours for the seal adhesive to cure and harden. So she would only miss one day if the docs cleared her. She convinced Ted when he came by later to call Kandahar and tell them she would miss one day and that is it. He grudgingly agreed but only if she promised to stay put and rest that night. That was easy as the Doctor gave her a stronger pain med and she was soon asleep.

The Brigade Commander called the Battalion commander.  
“Talked to one of her pilots; her apache will be down for just tomorrow and odds are she will be back flying the next day.”

“Then I will keep Griffith here.”

Liz woke up the next morning, a little confused and still a little woozy from the medication. She lay there slowly remembering things. After a little while a nurse came in and noticed she was awake. She wished her a good morning and told Liz that she would get the doctor. Liz looked for a clock and saw it was around 0700. She had been conked for 11 hours. No wonder she was woozy.

The doctor came in and checked her over.  
“Well, you seem very alert and if you have only minor discomfort then we can let you out.”  
Liz grinned. “That is good news. I need to check on my company and my chopper.”

About half an hour later Ted showed up with her jacket and took her to the mess hall where she proceeded to eat a huge breakfast. Ted was amazed at what she put away.  
“Liz you must have a hollow leg- because there is no place else you could have put that much food.”

“Hey, I ate nothing from a quick MRE yesterday morning until now.”

They then headed down to the flight line; he told Liz that as far as he knew right now there was no mission. The only one he knew about the RAF Apache’s would be covering. They found Grunt checking out her chopper.  
“So will it be ready for tomorrow?”

“Yes, in a pinch it would be ready tonight.” 

“Well that is good. I guess I can bum around today. It is really nice not being buried in paperwork like I would be at Kandahar.”

Liz found herself talking to a lot of people who seemed to know what happened; finally one of the RAF pilots told her that the BBC had done a bit on her. Liz wondered if there was someone UP THERE that just liked to mess with her; talk about lousy luck. 

Going to the mess hall was not a lot of fun; luckily her whole company was with her. She felt like the prize attraction at a zoo.

The Brigade Commander and the 1st Battalion commander were looking at the official report. The Battalion commander shook his head.  
“That is about as close to it as you can get and walk away.”

The SAS Commander and the RAF Commander were having a talk.  
“She deserves some kind of commendation; she never lost control or command.”

The RAF commander nodded.  
“I am going to mention that in the report to the 101st Brigade Commander. And add to that the fact that she has comported herself tremendously her whole time here. Her company has performed at the highest standard possible.”

“I heard something that I checked out; and contacted someone I know in Special Forces to confirm it. Not one allied person has died in any mission that she and her company have been part of. Not one pilot, crewmember, soldier, trooper, anyone.”

The RAF Commander blinked at that.  
“And her company from all accounts has been involved in as many if not more operations as any other attack Helicopter Company.”

“I think that fact needs to be elevated.”

The next day the Brigade Commander looked at the report. Then called in his XO.  
“I want this checked.”

Later that day his XO reported to him.  
“It is true sir. Remarkable.”

“I think she must be a favorite of the Gods of War.”

The next day came and they had two missions; as usual it seemed one for the SAS and one for the 2nd Scots. As usual Liz took the SAS and Whistler took the 2nd Scots.

It was almost the identical mission as the one she had been wounded on; but Liz forced herself to not think about it. This village was only 50 miles from Bastion, and it was in more open terrain so there were more choices of approach. Liz took her Apache’s around and came from the opposite direction that Bastion was and came in at 1000 feet and very obvious. And hovered; just like the last time. This time nothing happened except a movement of armed men to that side of the village facing the waiting, hovering Apaches. And the SAS came from the other side and poured into the village. When the armed men began to turn to face the other way and fire, Liz and her platoon cut loose. In 15 minutes the call came.

“Ground to MEDEVAC, respond. Target secured.”

Liz ordered Whistler to send two with the MEDEVAC when it took off.

30 minutes later the call came in for extraction. And they headed back; then Liz got a call from Bastion that a Patrol base needed help about 50 miles away. Liz ordered Whistler to stay with the flight and she took her platoon off to hunt.

The patrol base was almost identical to the one that she had gotten wounded at; and the Taliban were all around it. Liz took Lobo to the right while Pug took Fireman to the left. 

“Spectre Lead to Patrol Base, what is your position?”

“Patrol Base to Spectre Lead, we are concentrated in the village center, everyone on the perimeter is unfriendly.”

“Roger that, we will see if we can even up things.”

“Doberman to all, use 2.75’s on perimeter; let’s see if we can run them off”

Liz told roger to lay down 2.75’s along the perimeter while she started pot shooting Taliban. Liz became Nemesis, putting her mark on one after another. In 20 minutes it looked like they had done as much as they could.  
“Spectre Lead to Patrol Base; what is your situation? We have thinned out the perimeter.”

“Patrol Base to Spectre, we have no more incoming fire.”

“Roger that, we will patrol the perimeter and look some more”

“OK, people, lets circle the perimeter and look for unfriendlys. Snipe them if you see them.”

After another 15 minutes Liz looked at the fuel situation and knew they had to leave.

“Spectre Lead to Patrol Base; we are bingo on fuel. Will have to go.”

“Patrol Base to Spectre Lead, we are secure and Thank You.”

“Roger Patrol base, we are gone.”

So they headed back to base. The wound on the side of her head itched and hurt a little, but otherwise Liz felt fine. She had to work some to scrounge up another helmet.

Meanwhile the story about Liz stagnated after a couple of days in the US and then would have died if FOX NEWS had not gotten the interesting tidbit about the record of Liz and her company. They never admitted where they got that from but there were suspicions since Fox News had very close ties with Special Forces.

“This is Fox News Tonight. Captain Elizabeth Parker, Commander of A Company, 1st Battalion, 101st Aviation Brigade, currently stationed at Kandahar Airfield, but at the moment assisting the UK forces at Camp Bastion in Helmand Province, was once again in the news for this time surviving a very near call. This is courtesy of the BBC.” Then they showed the report.  
“Captain Parker is someone that seems to be around where the fire is hottest; in Iraq, in Northern Afghanistan, and now Southern Afghanistan. She has been decorated more times for Valor then all the other women in American Military History combined. She is by some counts the most decorated member of the United States Military since 2001. But one achievement dwarfs all the others: counting the fight defending the convoy, no American or allied soldier, Marine, Airman, anyone, has died while in her command or under the protection of her Company of Apache attack Helicopters. That includes all the missions that she has escorted and all the missions she and her company has responded to for fire support to bases under attack. Including the time she rescued the young girl that she eventually adopted. If she is there, our people do not die.”

The DOD PR chief happened to see that personally; he groaned. That was the universal response that everyone in any PR function had to that report. Fox News on occasion spread it very thick; this one was several feet thick. And yet it was true.

The SECDEF was told this; and groaned. The Congressman was told this; and nodded. CENTCOM groaned; and so on down the chain.

The Brigade commander put down the phone. He sat there and thought. Then he called in his XO and his PR officer.   
“Fox News had a little Blurb about Captain Parker. I want this checked out with a fine toothed comb.” And then he told them. His XO looked thoughtful. The Brigade Commander glared at him. He put up both his hands.

“Sir, I had heard this bandied about but was not sure it was true. But the more I thought about it, the more I began to think that it might be true.”  
“Well then CONFIRM IT!”

The President was informed of this and demanded the same thing. This order went down the chain of command.

Commander, Bastion, put down his phone. Pondered it for a while, and then called in his chief of security.  
“I want a protection detail assigned to Captain Parker. With the notoriety she is getting, I do not want to take any chances.”

At a hastily called meeting of the Commander of the RAF Regiment there at Bastion, as well as the Commanders of all Ground units and the SAS, he informed them of his directive. At that point both the commanders of both the SAS detachment and the 2nd Scots requested the honor of forming that detail. It was then agreed to trade off; each would take responsibility every other day. The SAS then demanded the honor of the first day, since she was usually working with them. It was agreed.

Liz was finishing up the paperwork that seemed to find her no matter where she was at a borrowed desk in operations when four members of the SAS marched up to her. She looked at them with raised eyebrows then stood and returned their rigid salute.  
“Captain Parker, by order of the MOD, we are your protective detail.”

Liz sighed. “Very well. Grab a seat; I should be done in a few minutes; after which I will eat then retire for the evening.”

They did not sit; instead two members were stationed outside the office door and two others were stationed inside. 

Liz felt very ridiculous with her detail following her everywhere.

Needless to say, Ted and the others got a kick out of it. Especially when the four members, who were switched out every 4 hours, stationed themselves outside her humble tent. 

Of course before long people were taking pictures of it.  
The next day was New Years; and there were no missions scheduled. And luckily no requests for support came in. So they had a nice day overall; Liz feeling hunted.

The President read the report. Then looked at SECDEF.  
“Remarkable.”

SECDEF nodded. “I had this researched and from what has been found to this point, no other Company matches that record. None appear to come close. Now there have not been that many Apache Companies overall; but starting in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2001, there are still a fair number that have been deployed. Now it is very possible that some deployed in Afghanistan from 2002 on might have the same record; for a while it was pretty quiet there. I have some people checking into that. But that just underscores what A company of the 1st Battalion has accomplished in two tours in Afghanistan combined. Both coming during times of very high intensity warfare. And furthermore, there has not been one instance of anyone claiming that that company has killed an innocent or a civilian. That is certainly possible; but no one has come forward.”

“I want this thoroughly researched.”

“Yes sir.”

That fact about Liz percolated the media for a while longer, while there was some serious digging into reports in more than a few areas to see if possibly anyone else could make such a claim. But several military authorities agreed that accomplishing this during a time of intense combat was nothing short of remarkable. 

Maria and the others were talking one day at a get together. Maria was unusually pensive.  
“We all felt that Liz was very special. We knew it from just about the first day we met her back in 2001. I think we are just now finding out how special.”

The Crew was quietly contemplating that same thing .  
Vicki was wondering how this could happen. Ellen was contemplative.  
“Of course part of it is luck. No one could say otherwise. But then how much of it is because of how much she cares; and how hard she works?”  
Jesse nodded.  
“Most of it. She outworks just about anyone I have ever met. And you remember a couple of times that Liz has mentioned the Gods of War. Just maybe those gods have favorites. And they bless their favorites with just a touch of luck. Just enough so that a bullet wounds instead of kills.”

Combat resumed on the 2nd day of 2011. Resupply was the name of that day; and the British Apache’s shared the load with Company A. Three separate resupply missions to FOBs. But very little trouble was found. Liz was quite happy with that.

That night, a call went out for fire support and as per the agreement the RAF Apache’s went out and got it done. That meant that the next day the load fell on A Company. Once again the SAS and 2nd Scots hit villages. As per usual Liz went with the SAS. It was a small village and it ended up virtually empty. Liz was happy about that. The Scots had a more difficult time but still cleaned theirs out without casualties. When Liz got back she picked up her detail and then went to the Debrief; after it the RAF commander spoke to her.  
“The Dutch are arriving with 8 Apache’s in a week. And we will probably get some others in a few weeks after that. With the relative quiet period we have at this time due to the weather, you should be able to head back to Kandahar in two weeks.”  
“Sir I will be happy to be in a more comfortable place; but I will be sad to leave those I have fought beside here.”

“I can guarantee, Captain Parker, we will miss you.”

And two weeks later Liz and A Company headed back to Kandahar. A very fine party was thrown by the SAS, RAF and 2nd Scots for them. Liz was extremely sad to leave Bastion and the very good friends she had made there. Each of those had made her and her company honorary members.

Those two weeks had been rather sparse in missions; hardly any of the Apache’s had fired anything.

Liz was happy to be back at Kandahar for several reasons: a more comfortable place to sleep; being with the crew; and not having a protective detail. She was quite glad her greeting was low key. She would not have been glad to know what was going on high over her head.

SECDEF looked at his aide.  
“This has been confirmed.

“Yes sir, even during the very quiet periods in Afghanistan it did not happen. In both you could find some that lost no Americans on their watch; but allies were lost. In its current tour, A company has not had one single death of anyone that was not an enemy. Not a civilian or innocent that we can find. If you look at the period just operating with the British, they have not lost anyone during that period either, and they had until A Company arrived a rather high casualty count when you looked at the percentage of troops involved. Now this current tour of the 101st Airborne has been remarkably absent of casualties; but they have had some. Every single one happened on someone else’s watch. Special Operations while A Company has been involved had no casualties as regards KIA. Or even killed in accidents. In her last tour Captain Parker was heavily involved with Special Operations Missions; and none were lost there either. It can be put no other way; Captain Parker has the touch of Midas; only instead of gold her gift is life.”

The Battalion commander had called a meeting of his Unit Commanders.  
“Combat operations will cease on 15 May, just one month from now. It looks like we should all be home on or about 10 June. At this time there is minimal combat, but we cannot relax or grow complacent. I expect 100% effort and efficiency right through the last combat mission.”

Liz was back to her office very happily and greeted her first sergeant.  
“Now I am really glad to be back. I have someone to dump paperwork on.”

He grinned at her. “Paperwork? Never heard of it.”

Liz was a little surprised how easily she slipped back into the swing of things; but she was not going to complain. 17 January and they were back to business as usual; a 2nd Brigade assault on a suspected Taliban stronghold near the mountains. It was big enough that Liz was told to take her whole company. In the mission planning; she asked to do the same as they had been doing at Helmand; using a platoon as a diversion. It was agreed.

5th Battalion had 14 hawks in the assault with 4 in reserve and 2 MEDEVACS; Liz realized that she had gotten used to the lesser resources at Bastion. But she was happy to have them. The Crew was in the assault group so Liz was a little more tense than usual but one would not have known by looking at her. Whistler came in from the west while the rest of the assault came in from the east and it worked very well indeed. There were not a lot of Taliban to begin with and most of them obediently lined up and got themselves taken out by getting caught in the crossfire from the Apache’s and the troopers. There were a few minor casualties but nothing serious.

There were a few supply runs but nothing else for two weeks. Then Captain Forrest showed up again. Liz looked at him and sighed.  
“If I had any sense at all I would just shoot you now.”

“I come in peace.”

“I should send you out in pieces.”

“How about a visit to our compound?”

“Why not? It’s not like I am not in a war zone already.”

She went with him and upon entering was taken to the office of the Commander. Captain Forrest then left, closing the door and the Commander offered her a seat. Liz sat down; wondering what was coming this time.

“No mission, no Company mess, nothing like that.”

“Now I know I should run like hell.”

He handed her a file that was marked TOP SECRET. Liz felt something shift inside of her and she opened the file. Began to read. Then actually felt herself start to drool.

The commander watched all this with satisfaction. He doubted he would need to do much to convince her.

Liz spent 10 minutes reading and memorizing the file then handed it back to the Commander who promptly put it in a safe and locked it. She observed all this.  
“Why am I being told? I can guess that this is being built now but VERY quietly.”

“It is being built as a black project. And we have been able to keep it very quiet; one reason is that parts of it are being built by people who have no idea what those parts are for. The body and frame parts are basically identical to the standard parts only they are being made out of titanium. Other parts are being made as replacements for current parts. Only the avionics are unique. Even the engines are standard in one respect; they are an improved version of the same WAH models. The first ones will be assembled starting in May. They are making the parts and then will assemble the aircraft. That is another way we are hiding it. The first company will be operational in May of 2012. By the end of that year we will have two battalions. We want you to be not only our first pilot; but the commander of the first company. You only have to ask for transfer to 160th SOAR.”

“I thought that was men only.”

“A new directive came out in September from SECDEF. We have not publicized it yet. Aviators are no longer male only.”

Liz thought about the super Apache. She knew she had to fly it.  
“You said May of 2012?”

“That is the goal; it probably will slip a few months.”

Liz considered that. She had plans but it might still work. But there was no other decision she could make. She knew she should tell Max first but he would understand. She looked at the commander.

“How do I do this?”

“You are agreeing?”

“Yes. I must fly that chopper.”

“Then you need to do nothing until you redeploy.” 

Liz went back to her quarters and lay on her bed and thought. While her decision had been somewhat impulsive, it was also true to herself. Flying was her goal; it was what truly interested her and made her eager to leave her home and family. It made her willing to sacrifice heavily to do it. ‘Find something you love to do and then find a way to get paid doing it’ was something she had read as a child and had always remembered. She had and she had. Taking a deep breath she then headed out to where you could make commercial phone calls; now she wished she had gone ahead and gotten a satellite phone. It took more than an hour, but she was able to get through to Max’s work number and she was in luck as he was at the office.

Max was finishing up some paperwork; this job was not as bad as he had thought it was; not particularly good just not bad. He had been quietly checking around for something better and had some good prospects. Hopefully in six months or so he would have something he liked doing. His phone rang and he answered it.

“Max Evans”

“Max, its Liz.”

“Liz! Great to hear from you honey! How are things going?”

“Well I have some news for you.”

“Well if it is big I am sitting down.”

“I guess that is good. I had a meeting with the local Special Forces Commander today and he gave me some very interesting information. It made me decide to join the 160th SOAR when I get back from deployment.”

Max was very still for a moment.  
“Liz, they deploy a lot. More than anyone else.”

“I know. But what was offered me I could not pass up.”

Max thought hard. What in the world could make Liz jump from the frying pan to the fire?   
“Liz you talked about applying to become an instructor so we could start a family.”

“We can still start one when I get back. I went off the pill 6 months ago.”

“But that means if you are pregnant you are grounded; so what is the point of joining the 160th right after you get back?”

“So I am first in line. What I want to be flying won’t be available for a while.”

So that was it- something new. He had not heard about any new Helicopters coming out that would make Liz want to do this. So it had to be something really Black. Well it was Special Ops. And they had made a point of offering it now to Liz. Well that was no surprise; with the reputation she had earned they would be stupid to not do that. Liz loved the Apache; so it had to be something that would blow the Apache away. If that was the case no wonder she had jumped on the offer.  
“I think I understand now, Liz. At least you will still be based here. So we will manage. I am so looking forward to you coming home.”

“So am I. To you and Aliya.”

“She is very proud of you and so am I. She is doing well; and staying here will be good for her, too.”

“Love you and give her a kiss for me. Have to go.”

“Love you too Liz.”

Max sat back and thought about things. Then got onto his computer and started to go to some of those forums that speculated about Black Projects. A couple hours later he stopped; even in that most paranoid and conspiracy driven area, there was only a very slight amount of speculation about a new attack helicopter for Black Ops. They had done a real good job of hiding this. And on the regular forums for aviation there was really nothing on a new attack helicopter for the military.

Liz went back to her quarters and once again lay down and thought. She was rather lucky that the Crew was out. She would let Battalion know right after they got home. That would give them time to figure out a replacement for her. She smiled at the thought of ‘working’ on starting a family. She wanted that very much. If she was lucky she would get pregnant quickly. She hoped her guardian angel was listening.

There were less than 2 months to go before they stopped flying. The replacement brigade would be flying in the next month. They would have 30 days to get ready before they relieved the 101st. One of the Brigades, the 2nd, would also be leaving at the same time; the 4th Brigade was already home. The next two brigades would be leaving in the next few months. Liz knew that everyone was beginning to get the short timers attitude; which had its good and bad points. The Bad was that people would try and skate and do as little as possible; the Good was that people would be more cautious and take fewer risks.

The next day there were some supply runs that were uneventful. C Company had really shaped up and was now maybe as good as A company. Liz privately doubted it, though. B Company had always been solid; not inspired but solid. So that area meant things were good. And with it being this time of year the pressure was off on combat anyway. Liz had no doubt there would be a few more assaults but not that many. The 2nd Cavalry’s Kiowa Scouts, attack/recon, handled most of the calls for quick reaction air support. When the fixed wings were not called, anyway. Only when they were not available or the call came from too far away were the Apache’s brought in. There was a lot less pressure here then there was at Bastion. They really needed more attack helicopter support there; what was there was badly stretched. Liz had written a report on operations there and had stressed that in it. It had gone to Brigade; she hoped it went higher.

Just one week before the end of flying came another mission that had the look of not being fun. It was a Special Operations mission, so naturally Liz was contacted. She followed Forrest as usual to the Special Ops compound. 

There it was outlined. A good sized village in a mountain pass almost 150 miles north of Kandahar. There were intelligence indications that several mid-level Taliban leaders were there. It would be hairy as due to the height of the mountains, above the level any Apache could make, or any other helicopter for that matter, so they would have to go right up the valley and had to withdraw the same way. This operation clearly had to be a night attack. There was a place 50 miles from target that would be used as a refueling point; 2 Chinooks would go there with a Special Ops security team, and the attack force would refuel and then launch the assault. They would leave at night; arrive there and refuel; and then hit the target. 6 Battalion would be the transport unit; it would be a full company of SF in 6 Blackhawks, with 4 in reserve and 2 Medevacs.

It was speculated that the village could be defended by one or more 23MM AA cannons, like the one that had just about punched Liz’s ticket. However its use at night would be very limited. This was a no moon period so that there would be no light at all; and all the US Helicopters would be very difficult to see as they had been designed for night operations. However anyone could get lucky so they would be watching for it. The only other possible defense that could worry anyone was if someone down there had an operational man portable SAM like a SA-7 or the like. It was possible they had a more modern version as a SA-7 was very ineffective against a modern US helicopter. It had been established that the Taliban had no remaining operational Stingers; the shelf life for all of them and especially for their batteries had expired years ago. There was no realistic chance any of them would work at this date.

So the mission was planned for the Blackhawks to quickly land the Special Forces teams at the outskirts of the village and then quickly move away to stay out of range of any possible AA weapons. It was probable that there would be 12.7MM MGs – but they had a limited effective range.

The Apache’s would move in as cover and watch for anything; and use their 30MM to take out any identifiable threats. They would then quickly move back as well. This operation would succeed or fail on the Special Forces troops.

Liz had no forebodings as they took off at 2000 the next night. But then she had had none when she had been wounded, either. Apparently it only worked when others were under threat. The trip to the refueling point was uneventful; as was the refueling. They took off for the target at 0030 and arrived at 0100 as scheduled. Liz took her entire Company in over the Blackhawks as they landed; this was a lot tougher than it sounds at night. The night Vision Goggles were the latest version but it was still nowhere near as good as daytime. So there was no choice but to go slower than you would have during the day.

It was not long before they began to receive incoming fire; mostly AK 47 but also some 12.7MM Tracer was spotted; but they were quickly silenced as the Apaches could see them easily once they fired. And they fired at the Apaches who were mostly impervious to 12.7MM anyway.

Liz was tensely watching; Roger had control of the stick while she was concentrating on the 30MM. She had not yet fired a shot as someone beat her to it when she spotted something worth shooting at. There were 8 of them watching for anything so that was no surprise. In the cold air it was easier to see the figures trying to move and shoot. The IR contrast helped immensely. Then Liz spotted a figure standing on top of a building with what looked like a RPG, or maybe a SAM. Either way she exploded him quickly. Then heavier tracers started to come towards them and they all reacted quickly to what had to be 23MM; two separate ones were each targeted by 2-3 Apache’s and quickly taken out. Then came the word that the Blackhawks had unloaded and were now a safe distance away.   
“Doberman to all ships; let’s back away as planned.”

So they all flew backwards about half a mile or so, each watching the other so that no one got too close to anyone else. There they hovered and waited and watched.

In the village the SF teams had a huge advantage as they all had night goggles and the Taliban did not. Still it was not easy and they slowly fought their way from one end to the other. As agreed once they reached the far end of the village they called the escort.

“Ground to Spectre Lead; we have reached objective three.”

“Spectre Lead to Ground; understood.”

Then as agreed Liz and 1st Platoon at a height of 1500 feet moved over the village to its far end; there to see if anyone tried to flee. This would be tricky because they did not want to shoot any women or children. Anyone carrying a weapon was considered fair game. But still they wanted to be sure. 

Liz looked hard and long through her sight on the 30MM on the trail leading deeper into the valley from the village. It was not long before there were indeed people starting to run up that trail. Liz was more concerned when she noted what appeared to be women among them. But she did not see a single child.  
“Doberman to all ships; I will take any shots; no one else shoots. Acknowledge.”

One by one the others acknowledged.

Liz kept watching; then began to drop down closer to get a better look. There were only a couple figures carrying AK 47’s; really not worth a shot probably. Then a bigger group came out of the village and there were 8 men in it; 3 were carrying AK 47’s; one in front and 2 in the rear. She looked closer and two of the figures in the clump of 5 looked better dressed as near as she could tell. Making a decision she fired a burst at them; killing them all. Then more armed figures came running out of the village shooting back towards it. Liz hosed them as well.

“Ground to Spectre Lead; village secured. Have 4 wounded; not badly.”

“Spectre Lead, took down most of the armed subjects leaving village; a group that appears to have targets taken down as well just past the end of the village.”

“Roger Spectre Lead will take a look.”

In a few minutes Liz saw more armed subjects leaving; clearly the Special Forces soldiers. They checked the ones Liz had blown away then looked at the clump. Liz saw the flashes of pictures being taken.

“Doberman to all ships; back up to angels 15.”

15 minutes later the call for Pickup came and the MEDEVACs dropped down as well. 

Liz spread out the company looking for any possible attacks and waited; in less than 15 minutes they were away. 

And that turned out to be the end of the combat for the Aviation Brigade.

With the end of the combat role and flying, the choppers were taken over by the maintenance crews to prepare them for transport. But that did not mean the pilots had nothing to do; but now all of it was paperwork. Reports right and left for everything and anything. Liz had to do end of deployment evaluations on everyone; and sign off on every report and all the reports of survey for everything lost or expended not previously accounted for.

All that took up the next three weeks; but it was finally MOSTLY done. There was not a lot of personal gear to pack up so that would not take long. So by the beginning of March just about everyone outside of the Company Commanders on up had a fair amount of free time. Which most used to catch up on sleep and relax; since once they got home most would be taking their 30 day leave right away and would want to do things, not rest. Liz and the other commanders had more to do since they were also briefing in the new brigade about everything.

After the final meeting, Liz was talking to Ed and Jim.  
“So, guys, what next for you?” 

Ed shrugged “I will probably get the Battalion in the next few months when the Battalion commander finally moves up to Brigade XO.”

Jim sighed; “They are talking giving me 5 Battalion as he moves up.”

Liz looked at them. “Neither of you sound joyful about it.”

Ed nodded. “Command is not what it is cracked up to be, as you have already found. But the paperwork at Battalion level is about 5 times what you have at company level.”

Jim winced. “And that might be underestimating it. But worst of all flying is just about done.”

Liz nodded. “That is why I am thinking of instructor.”

They both nodded. “You can stay an instructor for a long time if you want; 5 years or more. But then you are pretty much stuck being a part of the school after that. Your chances at promotion are pretty much gone.” ED stated.

Jim nodded. “Now if you are just wanting to run out the string to retirement at 20, that would work. You would not get a command or anything like it. The Bottom line in the military is keep rising or get out. Even if you are great at what you are currently doing, they will not let you stay there for too long no matter what.”

Ed sighed. “Liz, you are a superb pilot and company commander. If the military had any brains they would leave you alone right at that position. But they cannot do that; or more to the point won’t. It is like an animal that cannot ever not eat; it thinks if it stops feeding for one day it will die. That is where the US Military is today. Instead of transferring people and promoting them every couple of years the smart thing to do was when you found someone outstanding at doing something is leave them there to keep doing it. When you have too many great ones at that position then start promoting them. And gradually you fill from the bottom up. It is not done.”

Nothing of what they said came to Liz as anything like a surprise. It was all things she had seen and thought herself. From two that she very much respected to have said it, just confirmed what she already knew. And that made her decision that much easier. It was either what she had already decided to do or become an instructor; and while that would have meant she could keep flying, it would have been treading water. She did not like the feeling that she was running as fast as she could just to remain in the same place.

So when Liz got on the plane on June 10 to return to the US, she had yet to tell anyone outside of Max what she was going to do.


	12. Not all the fighting is in the air

Coming home this time was so much like it was last time; Max and Aliya and her mom waiting for her; in exactly the same place. And it was just as good. The very next day she got a chance to speak to the Crew where she let them know where she was going; just not why.  
They were not as surprised as she thought they would be. Ellen said it best.  
“You love flying that Apache, Liz; and not a desk. So flying anything other than a desk is what you should do. And I don’t think you would like being an instructor as much as you might have thought you would. Dealing with so many just wanting to do enough to get by, would have gotten you sooner or later. And having to wash some out that really want to would have made it worse. And we know you too well to think you would like playing all the political games and doing all those courses to get a list checked; so for me it’s fine.”

Liz told her mom the next day; and she sighed and nodded.   
“I have come to terms with the fact that I have a warrior daughter; someone who does not want the picket fence and the safe lifestyle. Whatever you do as long as you want to do it I will always love and support you.”

It was a little different a few days later when they went down to stay with Maria and the others for a week. Isabelle understood the best, then Tess. Maria was silent. Liz looked at her friend.   
“It is what I want to do Maria.”

Maria had her head down then slowly raised it up and they all saw the tears.  
“Liz, I got the shakes that night I saw you come out of your Apache dripping blood. I am so afraid that sooner or later I am going to get that phone call telling me that finally you pushed it too far or your luck ran out. And flying for Special Operations is even worse than regular combat. But I know you; I have known you for almost 10 years though not as well the last 5. This is who you are. I think you are the finest person I have ever met; and I dread the day you are no longer here. I want it to happen in about 60 or 70 years. Not next year or the year after.”

Tears in her own eyes Liz hugged her friend. There was nothing more to be said.

She and Max had been ‘working’ on what he called their joint project from the first day. They made it a point to ‘work’ on it at least once a day. 

Aliya had grown both inwardly and outwardly. Gone was the too skinny child; now 10, she was starting to sprout up. She might end up a fair amount taller than her adoptive mother. And from the shy and timid girl she had first adopted had come the much more open and confident pre-teen that more and more appeared to be the everyday American girl. In one respect Liz saw that anyway that they could stay here longer would be so good for her; she had very close friends and was comfortable and happy. It had been good seeing the Posse as well. Susan had been very blunt.  
“Thank you for making sure our men came back to us.” While the 1st Brigade was not yet back, it was done with combat.

Ruth had just hugged her and whispered to her “I knew you would keep your promise.”

Becky had hugged her and told her that Sam had been able to email her and let her know that his unit had just finished their last mission before coming home.

The three of them then took off for 10 days of traveling to several different parts of the country like the Northeast; NY and Boston; then Florida and Disney World. Finally with a week left they came home. And just stayed together; Max had left his job and the next one would not start for a month. So they got a chance to know each other.

Finally Liz called the number that the Special Forces Commander in Kandahar had given her. She was told to head over to the 160th SOAR HQ on Campbell.

While in a different compound with more security, it did not seem that much different. But going inside the HQ building Liz could feel a difference; an energy that was unlike anything she had seen anywhere else, even the Spec Ops in Afghanistan. She was directed into an office where a full Colonel waited.

“Captain Parker; I am Colonel Ballard, commander of the 160th SOAR.”

“Pleased to meet you sir.”

“I am pleased to meet you Captain. I am glad you have decided to join us.”

“When I saw that bird, I had to fly her. Just that simple sir.”

“Well you will get that chance. However, the schedule has slipped due to some problems that cropped up. Nothing serious but it will add about 6 months to operational status.”

“Well that is good sir, since I was looking to have a baby before I started flying her.”

He raised an eyebrow then grinned. “I was told you did not mince words, Captain and I am glad that you are being fully honest here. So that is your latest project?”

Liz blushed slightly. “Yes Sir and I am giving full attention to it like anything else that is important.”

He grinned wider. “As any good Special Operations warrior should. Well that will work out well if you can manage to start your project in the next few months. You will have to go through our own special preparation course, but it is nothing that frankly should give you too much trouble. As organized as you are reputed to be.”

Liz smiled at him. “Ya gotta have a plan.”

“You will be going through a special version of that course for the simple reason of your record and accomplishments. Some of the regular parts would be redundant and waste time; you will only be doing what you need. We try to tailor all our prep work that way.”

Liz was already liking this. No cookie cutter crap; no trying to force round pegs into square holes.

“How long would that course take?”

“Probably about 12 weeks.”

“Well sir, If I can get my current project started, how much of what I need to do can I do before I cannot see my feet?”

He laughed out loud at that. “If that is not too the point I do not know what is. I would say about half of it.”

“Sounds like a plan, sir. Where do I sign?”

He reached for a folder on his desk and handed it to her. In about 10 minutes she had signed everything. Most of it had been pre filled out. When she finished it, she looked at him.

“So what next?”

“Inform your command about your intentions. Special Forces has another position they would like you to fill while we are all waiting for the birds to get done.

Liz blinked for a minute then sighed. “Don’t tell me; their ASP.”

He grinned again. “No flies on you. Makes sense; that is the other area you have excelled in. And they are losing their commander next month.”

And that was that. Liz headed back home and let Max know that it was done. The next day she went to the 101st Brigade HQ and talked to the head of personnel there.

“Captain Parker, what can I do for you?”

“Here are my transfer papers to the 160th SOAR.”

She did enjoy the look on his face.

Not two hours later she got a call from her Brigade Commander.  
“I don’t suppose there is any way I can talk you into staying, Captain?” Was his statement to her when she came to his office.

“Sir do you know about the new bird they are getting?”

He looked at her and slowly nodded. “So that is why. I guess I cannot blame you. We will be very sorry to lose you Captain.”

“I am sorry to leave sir, but we both know I would not have been in that cockpit for that much longer here.”

“I am not going to BS you so no you would not have. Your promotion is in the works and you would have been Battalion XO fairly soon. You should know that you will be getting another commendation.”

Liz sighed. “Now what?”

He smiled suddenly. “I just got the word today. Company A, 1st Battalion, 101st Aviation Brigade will be awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for actions in Kandahar and Helmand Provinces, Afghanistan from July of 2010 through June of 2011.”

Liz blinked but smiled. “So everyone that served in A Company in that time period is included.”

“Yes.”

“That is very good. I do not mind this one.”

“Thought that would make you a bit happier. I am very sorry to lose you but I do understand why. It has been an honor and pleasure to have you in my command, Captain.”

“Proud to have served in your command, Colonel.”

Liz came back to their house and found Max and Aliya preparing lunch. She smiled at this. She had not eaten much that morning, her stomach had been a little queasy so she was very hungry now and proceeded to devour two large sandwiches. Aliya had wide eyes at that; Liz laughed at her.  
“You have seen me eat big meals before.”

“Momma, it always surprises me.”

After lunch Aliya went off to the center; this was her last day off before going back to school. A lot of children had not been in school since the division had come back. The school there was used to it. Max came back after dropping her off and found Liz just sitting and smiling.  
“What has you happy?”

“The Brigade Commander informed me that A Company is getting the Presidential Unit Citation.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah this is one I do not mind. Of course it is my second; sometimes I forget about the one I got for being in the 3rd ID during the initial assault on Iraq.” 

The next week when the Brigade reported back the Company was given the word; the award would be made within the next few weeks. After that she told them that she would be transferring to the 160th SOAR.

They pretty much all said the same thing; that they were not surprised and that they understood. She knew they were disappointed she was going but that was all.

Liz felt like she was in limbo and really did not know what to do until the transfer was formalized. Then another thought occurred to her that kind of took precedence. She realized she was late and remembered the slight nausea she had had on and off the last week or so. She wasted no time in going into town in civilian clothes and getting a pregnancy test. She came back to the house; glad that Max was looking over his new job; they were working on renovating the main air field and he had gotten a job with the contractor as supervisor of the work crews. She knew he would like that job better than the last. She read the instructions and followed them. Not ten minutes later Max came home and found her smiling again.

“OK, what this time?”

She showed him the test.

They spent the next hour making love. Then talking about things.

Aliya came home from school and was told; she was big eyed and asked a lot of questions. Liz very early on told her that she would be the big sister and thus would have some responsibility.

That evening Liz called her mom, then Maria and the others. Then the Crew, and finally the Posse. The crew and posse called for a party at the park the coming Saturday.

Liz quietly called the commander of the 160th SOAR and told him her news.

“Congratulations on the baby, Captain. Good timing. Very efficient.”

Liz laughed and thanked him.

On Saturday the Posse proceeded to make sure she did various things. Liz loved this time; the Crew were just as happy. And had some announcements. They were all getting married in the next few months. 

That of course required much consultation on all matters marriage.

Back home that evening Liz cuddled with Aliya and Max on the sofa. They just sat there and enjoyed being together.

That Monday Liz was notified formally that her transfer had been accepted. And that she would be detached in two weeks to take over the ASP for Special Operations. And that the Presidential Unit Citation would be held in the White House Rose Garden on August 14. She was not pleased when told that the only ones listed were the Copilots, Pilots and Sergeant Rogers. She immediately called Brigade and they told her they were working on it. Liz then emailed her congressman.

“The Presidential Unit Citation currently leaves out the Crew chiefs and crews that kept our choppers flying. That is wrong.”

The reply came back in an hour. “I am on it.”

SECDEF really did not have time for this and proceeded to chew out his Undersecretary for Personnel who was supposed to take care of screw ups like that.

Liz cleaned up her office; then made sure all necessary paperwork was done, and then looked around. Ted came in and proceeded to pull her to where they had put together a going away party for her. Liz would miss them; she had spent more time with them than any other unit and that counted for a lot.

She reported to the 5th Group the following Monday and talked to the Commander.  
“Captain Parker, you will find that no one is left from the group you trained over 4 years ago. So that is why you have been assigned TDY here. The new commander designate has decided to leave the army so it will be a while before we can scare up a replacement. I was informed of your condition and it should be no bar to this assignment. The 160th SOAR will be your PCS move technically even though you remain on the same installation.”

“Understood Sir. I have a fair amount of time before I reach the point where I will be completely desk bound. I see no reason that the ASP cannot be well in gear before I leave.”

Liz headed down to the SF ASP Office and walked in the door and looked around. There was no one there. She walked around and noted that the key cabinet was not secured. There was no one in the office at all. Beginning to get steamed she called up the 5th Group G4.

“Sir, this is Captain Parker. I am down here at the ASP office and there is no one in the building and it is not secure. I thought the Commander was not due to leave yet?”

“He was not as far as I know, Captain. I will send security ASAP.”

Liz went through the building and did not like what she found. A quick look at the SOP’s showed that they had all been last updated one year after she had left; not since. Virtually everything she saw screamed sloppiness and taking short cuts.

Within 10 minutes of her call upstairs, two vehicles loaded with SF Security appeared. The lead sergeant approached Liz.

“Sergeant Gunderson. Was told by Group to report to you on a security breach.”

“That is correct sergeant. You will have half your men secure this building; the rest and you will come with me to the ASP.”

“Yes Ma’am. Sergeant Wilson, take your team and secure this building.”

“Understood Sergeant.”

“Sergeant Wilson, you will hold anyone that comes in until I return.”

“Yes Ma’am.”

“Let’s go, Sergeant Gunderson.”

Liz got into the Hummer and the Sergeant took the wheel and they headed towards the ASP.  
“Sergeant, I have reason to think I just inherited a cluster fuck. I may need more of your men to do a sweep of the ASP.”

“Understood Captain.”

He then called into HQ for more men.

Meanwhile the G4 had contacted the Group Commander and filled him in.  
“Damn, this sounds bad. What about the current Commander?”

“Sir, I have not been able to find a leave slip. He is not due to process out for 2 weeks. His quarters do not answer.”

The Group Commander thought for a moment.  
Then the G4’s phone rang, and he answered it.  
“Yes it is. What? OK keep me informed.”

“Captain Parker just asked for reinforcements.”

“I want an alert RIGHT NOW. Get the reaction force rolling for the ASP.”

Liz and the Security detachment rolled up to the Group ASP. The gate was open and the guard was not there. Liz got out and looked around- saw a porto potty.  
“Sergeant, secure this gate, check that porto. Call HQ and declare a security breach right now.”

“Yes MAAM! Jones and Brandon, check that potty. People we are on alert; weapons locked and loaded and ready to fire; safeties on. Smith, close that gate.”

Liz thought she might be over reacting but she was taking no chances; she wished she had a side arm but then again she had not expected this and had no reason to. 

The potty was empty and the two security people unlocked the back of the vehicles weapon storage and produced M4’s. Liz was glad to see they had more and took one and two magazines and quickly readied it for action.

Liz looked around and still saw nothing. She looked at Gunderson.  
“Sergeant, any moving vehicle will be stopped one way or another. Deadly force is authorized.”

“Understood, Captain.”

Liz thought for a minute and pulled out her cell phone and punched in a number.

“1st Battalion.”

“Sir, this is Captain Parker. We have a situation at the Group ASP; probable security breach. Possibly worse. Is there anyone immediately available and armed?”

“Negative; only scouts available.”

“Need eyes in the sky, sir.”

“Understood; 10 minutes.”

“Yes sir, have them contact us on Group Security.”

“As soon as we can Captain.”

10 minutes went by and they heard sirens coming from the main area. Then approaching sirens. They could see flashing lights as the security vehicles approached. 4 Hummers approached; 2 with 50’s on mounts and two with flashing lights. 

At the same time came from Gunderson’s radio  
“6 Battalion, Ferrer, for Captain Parker.”

Liz grabbed the mike “This is Captain Parker; I need a sweep of the Group ASP and tell us what you see.”

“Roger that, Captain.”

The Lead vehicle stopped and a LT came hustling forward. He saluted Liz.  
“Told of a security breech; Group has called an alert. Was told to follow your orders, Captain.”

“I want a sweep of the ASP. I have a hawk upstairs looking right now and will give us the situation.”

“Ferrer to Captain Parker; I have four magazines open; one vehicle in front of one magazine; no personnel in sight.”

Liz thought about the layout of the ASP.  
“Ferrer which magazines are open?”

“All the magazines on the 3rd row.”

“Where is that vehicle?”

“Third magazine from your right as facing the magazines from the gate.”

“Thank You Ferrer, keep looking and if anything changes sing out.”

“Roger that, Captain.”

Liz looked at the Lt.  
“I went to the ASP HQ and the building was empty and unsecured. We got here and the gate was open and nobody present. I want you to move in and check those magazines for intruders or anyone else; detain and secure anyone you find. I checked the planographs for the open magazines and there are no AT weapons in them. The one magazine with the vehicle in front has only small arms ammunition. Deadly Force is authorized.”

“Understood Captain.”

He then gathered his sergeants and quickly briefed them.

Then more sirens and two vehicles approached; one looked like a commanders Hummer and the other was another security Hummer.

Liz looked at the LT. “LT, just in case those are not who they look to be.”

“Yes Sir.”

Then gave orders and the two hummers with 50’s turned to cover the oncoming vehicles. Liz and the others moved behind their hummer and watched.

The two vehicles stopped and out of the second came the 5th Group commander, Colonel Collins.  
Everyone relaxed as he quickly came forward.

“Captain, brief me.”

“Sir we arrived 20 minutes ago. The gate was open and unmanned. We secured it; the reaction force arrived. I called the field and they rushed a Blackhawk” she pointed at the hawk hovering at about 2000 feet “and it reported four magazines open and one vehicle in front of one; no personnel in sight. I just ordered the LT to move in and secure the area; to detain and secure anyone found. He was about to do so when you arrived.” 

He nodded. “Well done Captain. The ASP commander is missing. Has anyone shown up at the ASP HQ?”

“The Sergeant there has secured the building and will alert us if anyone appears; anyone that does will be detained. We have received no communications from him.” 

He thought for a minute then looked at the LT.  
“Lt Anderson, are you ready to move in?”

“Yes sir my people are briefed and we are ready.”

“Then do so.”

“Yes sir.”

Liz broke in “Sir, I authorized deadly force if necessary.”

The Colonel nodded. “Per those orders, move in.”

“Yes sir.”

They moved out 2 minutes later, two vehicles going each way to the far end of the rows of magazines in view; there were 4 rows of 4 magazines laid out in a square.

Liz moved back to Gunderson’s vehicle and took the mike. “Captain Parker to Ferrer, any change?”

“Negative, Captain. The security vehicles are approaching the first open bunkers; two troopers are going in to check; with two outside covering; “

A couple of minutes went by.

“First two open magazines are closed now; one unit is checking the third open bunker; the other is waiting.”

Another couple of minutes.

“Third magazine closed they are moving towards the magazine with the vehicle.”

“They are going in the magazine.”

“They are pulling out four uniformed personnel out of the magazine and are handcuffing them. They are staggering, barely able to stand.”

“Security to Group Commander, have secured the situation. Have arrested four personnel who are apparently under the influence of drugs.”

Everyone relaxed. Liz shook her head. “Stoned out of their gourds probably.” 

The Group commander reached for his phone. “Call off the alert. Contact CID, we will need a full investigation team.”  
He looked at Liz. “You reacted correctly, Captain. And it looks like we have a much bigger mess than I ever suspected.”

“Yes sir. Before we left the building, I looked around. The Key cabinet was open and unsecured; everything I saw indicated a very sloppy and careless attitude. The SOPS were all out of date.”

He nodded. “Right now I think a full replacement of all personnel is going to be required.”

Liz looked up as a vehicle approached with flashing lights; it was a command Hummer. It approached and stopped and a Major came out and approached the Colonel and saluted.

“Major Fresnel, Security. IS the situation under control, sir?”

“It is. But I will need this ASP secured and the guard on duty is either missing or is one of the four we have found who are under the influence.”

The Major blinked and nodded.

At that point the Security Force came up to the gate. LT Anderson got out and approached the group and saluted the colonel.

“Four personnel apparently severely under the influence, sir; we could smell a large amount of marijuana smoke in each of the magazines; the one the personnel were in reeked with it. They are so bad they can barely stand and are completely incoherent.”

“Take them straight to the Base Hospital for testing; you know the procedures.”

“Yes Sir.”

Major Fresnel spoke up. “I want 4 personnel here for the immediate future until relieved, Lt Anderson.”

“Understood sir.”

Liz also spoke up. “Did you lock the magazines, Lt.?

“No captain; I was not able to find any locks or keys.”

Liz shook her head. “Will need to get spare locks from the office, and we will need to reset the IDS.” Suddenly she thought of something and looked at the LT.  
“Shouldn’t the IDS have gone off; If I recall the system it has to be keyed every hour the door is open or it alarms. I doubt those characters have only been stoned for an hour.”

His eyes widened as did Major Fresnel, who called into his office and wanted to know what his board showed. He paled as he looked at the Group commander.  
“The IDS board shows all those magazines as secured; and have not been opened today.”

Liz sighed. The others looked at her. “They must have bypassed the IDS so that it never alarms no matter what happens. That is not something easily done.”

Major Fresnel shook his head. “No it’s not.” He looked at the group Commander. “Sir this is very serious.”

The Colonel nodded. “It is getting more serious by the minute.”

He looked at Liz. “Captain, as of right now this ASP is on lockdown. Closed until further notice. You will perform a 100% inventory starting tomorrow morning. In the meantime, we will have security on each row 24/7.”

“Yes sir.” Then Liz headed towards Gunderson’s radio. “Captain Parker to Ferrer; situation secured and thank you. Head for the barn.”

“Roger that Captain Parker.”

The Colonel looked at Liz. “Good thinking there, Captain. Let us proceed to the ASP office and we will discuss this. I will call the G4 and have him come down. I will also call the Base Commander and have the head of his ASP head over as well; we will have to use his people for the inventory.”

They all trooped down to the ASP Office except for the detail going to the base hospital or back to the Barracks. Liz unloaded her weapon and gave it back to the Sergeant to be locked away. The Colonel noted that she was very precise and competent with the weapon.

In the office Liz immediately checked the keys in the Key cabinet. The Colonel and Major noted her frustration.  
“Just how bad is this, Captain?”

“Sir this is a mess. We have CAT 1 and 2 keys mixed in with all the others; a major security violation as they must be separated so that no one person can draw both keys…oh hell. IT looks like only one lock on the Cat 1 bunkers. Damn. I see some of the keys are missing. This keeps getting better and better.”

She closed the cabinet that had a combination type lock on it; then stopped and looked in the cabinet next to it and found a key lock still in the box; she took that lock out and locked the cabinet with it and took both keys and placed them in the safe. Then stopped. “Damn. Need to change the combination to this safe.” She looked at the lock. “Well good you can change the combination.” She fiddled with it. Then locked it. She looked at the Major. “Sir, I will give you the combination and I will have the combination and no one else.” She looked at the Colonel and he nodded and stepped away. Liz whispered to the Major “8 4 76”

He nodded. “Got it.”

Liz then looked around and poked at some boxes on the floor. “Jesus. Here are the spare Magazine locks. They are supposed to be secured as well.” She picked them up and opened the safe and checked the lower drawer and dropped 6 locks in it and closed the safe again and put the closed sign on it.

Both the Major and the Colonel shook their heads.

The Group G4 came in and looked around. The Colonel beckoned him over.  
“What did the base commander say?”

“The Ordnance Company commander resigned his commission 3 days ago and has already cleared post. The 2 LTs are still on leave. They have been unable to contact them.”

Liz shook her head. “Jesus H Christ. The Ordnance Company was in great shape when I left.”

The G4 shrugged. “All the personnel that you trained are gone. Over a year ago the last one left. Remember, Captain, it was almost 4 years since you left here.”

The Colonel was also shaking his head. “With the increased emphasis that the Ammunition Mission has been getting; since the new SECDEF kept up the pressure the last one had been applying, I cannot believe that it collapsed here.”

The G4 looked uncomfortable. The colonel glared at him. The G4 sighed.  
“Sir I had been hearing some things about the ASP on main post; but I had heard nothing about this ASP. The Last inspection conducted before we left, 18 months ago, did not seem to find anything wrong.”

Liz looked at him. “Who did it?”

“The Main post ASP office.”

Liz was quiet for a moment. “How much do you want to bet that the last inspection for THEIR ASP came from THIS ASP?”

The three officers winced. The Colonel sighed. “We are not dumb enough to take that bet.”

He thought for a moment and reached for a desk phone. Dialed a number.  
“Colonel Simms. I think you need to have your ASP checked immediately. IT was a disaster here; and the last inspection done 18 months ago was by the main post ASP and there are things here that should have been caught even then. And were not. I am at our ASP office; frankly the only officer on this installation who has an idea how bad it might be is Captain Parker here. She was supposed to take over the ASP and found a Major Security Breech.” “Yes. That Captain Parker; she is TDY for the moment here prior to her joining the 160th SOAR. She will clearly be busy here; and I think we might have to have her take over all the ordnance company functions on this installation. Yes I agree. We will head over in a while; 1300 is a good time for a meeting in your office.”

Liz checked her watch. It was 1130. Only 90 minutes had passed since she left the Group HQ to come here. 

The Colonel looked at the officers present. “Meeting at the base commanders office at 1300.” He looked around. “Captain Parker, how many people should be here?”

“Sir, TOE is 1 Captain, 1 LT, 2 Sergeants and 6 specialists. We know the Captain is missing; the LT has transferred out. One of the four was the gate guard who is in security; the other three were 3 of the specialists. So that leaves both sergeants and 3 specialists unaccounted for.”

He looked at Major Fresnel. “I want them found. At this time I want them detained.”

“Yes sir I will send out an alert.” They began to discuss that.

Liz had wandered over to the Captains office and looked inside. She saw an envelope lying on his desk. She went in and picked it up. She brought it out to the main office area where they had been talking.  
“Sir this was laying on the captain’s desk. It is labeled for Personnel.”

He took it and opened it. Pulled out some papers. Looked at them. “His resignation effective today. IT is dated last Wednesday.”

Liz shook her head. “Well that explains his absence but not much else.”

The Colonel looked around. “Check all the offices. See if any more like this are around.” They all started to poke around but found nothing but more evidence of an incredibly sloppy operation. Liz did find the keys to the door to the building. The Colonel told them to close the doors and for Liz to secure it.

“Major, I imagine you have quite a report to start on.”

“Yes sir and I need to start on it ASAP.”

“Then go do so.”

He looked at Liz and the G4. “We have time for lunch; we will go to the officers club and we can discuss this over food.” Liz had the keys to the ASP office vehicle that had been brought back from the ASP; she decided to take it instead of the base car she had been using.

After they went to the Officers mess and had taken seats in the senior officer section the Colonel looked at Liz.  
“Just how bad do you think it is?”

“Sir this is about one step down from apocalyptic. I have no doubt we will find everything wrong. The Ordnance company mostly did not deploy due to where the 101st was; the ASPs are permanent there and manned by other units. So they stayed here; with very little to do since the whole division was gone. The Special Forces ASP also has had little to do due to how much of 5th Group is deployed and once again not many of them went. The old saying that while the Cat is away the mice will play has been already proven here.”

The G4 shook his head. “You left a trained and competent ASP here and on Main post. But I am willing to bet that the senior people were gone within 2 years at the most; with the others steadily going. We probably got the dregs here from elsewhere; why I do not know but I bet that was what happened. Somehow we became the dumping ground for the bad Ordnance types here. With that increased emphasis on Ammunition, everyone wanted to get rid of their bad apples. Looks like we got more than a few. And since we did not need them, nobody noticed in the past year how bad it had been getting.” His cell phone rang and he took the call. Listened for a bit then told them OK and keep digging.  
“That was personnel. Of the 2 sergeants and 3 missing Specialists, it turns out that the three specialists left over 6 months ago and the Captain did not bother to get replacements. One of the sergeants also transferred to the NG two months ago. The remaining sergeant is still unaccounted for. The LT transferred out and his time in ran out last month and he left the military.”

Liz sighed. “So we have one missing sergeant who could very well be out somewhere drunk. I would not be surprised if he had something like that in his record. One of the sergeant’s offices looked somewhat empty; the other had his trash full of beer cans.”

The Colonel looked up at the ceiling. “I cannot believe that I did not hear about this from somewhere.”

The G4 also shook his head. “I had heard vague things but had no idea of this goat rope. That is why I wanted Captain Parker to take over here for the time being.”

Liz shook her head. “I have NO one then I can start with. I will need bodies. And if the Main ASP is anything like this, and right now there is no reason to not think so, there might be very few there that I can use.”

The Colonel grunted. “Well, let’s eat. And try and enjoy the meal.”

At 1245 they headed to the Base Commander’s office. 

The Base commander, Colonel Sims, the Division G4, Colonel Allen, and the Base Security Commander were waiting in the office. After introductions the Base commander nodded to Colonel Allen to start.  
“Ordnance Company. Captain Sanders resigned. Lt Johnson has had his transfer approved and is on leave in Europe. Lt Dunkin has been found in his quarters passed out drunk. He was supposed to be on leave and apparently was just drinking in his room. 4 sergeants. 2 are transferring in and are not Ordnance qualified; but seem competent from their records. 2 slots were empty and have been for 6 months. The two coming in are due on base next week. They both have families and are in route. 8 specialists for doing paperwork; and the TAMIS system. 4 slots empty. The other slots are filled with personnel that are barely competent. None of them were evaluated at more than satisfactory and that was probably a stretch. Effectively at this time this ordnance section is an empty building.”

Liz was thinking hard and the Group Commander noticed. “What is it Captain?”

“Sir none of them include the personnel that did come with us to Afghanistan.”

He looked at the G4. Who nodded. “Due to the realignment, the Ordnance Company is permanent post so that if one or more of the brigades stay they can be taken care of. We do have the people who were deployed. Some sergeants and specialists.”

“So what do we have from them?”

The Colonel pulled out a file and checked it. “4 sergeants, 2 89B’s. 8 specialists, 4 of which are TAMIS qualified. All attached to their various brigades.” 

The Base Commander nodded. “Well they will not be needed so we can put them in the Ordnance Company permanent post.”

Liz nodded. “I can also grab the two sergeants extra and I have something to start with at the SF ASP. If we can take two of the specialists, one TAMIS, there is a core to build around. One of those sergeants need to be one of the 89B’s.”

The atmosphere lightened up now that there was some light at the end of the tunnel.

The Base Security commander then interjected. “I think the absolute first thing will be to have a 100% inventory.”

The group nodded and the Base Commander looked at Liz. “Captain Parker, since this will be your responsibility, I think you need to let us all know what you will need first.”

Liz took a deep breath and pulled out her notebook that she had been making notes prior to the meeting.  
“As was pointed out, 100% inventory. No records previously used will be considered as anything but unreliable. I will need to talk to the QASAS here. I wonder why they did not say anything; they should have caught this long ago.”

The Division G4 sighed. “One QASAS recently retired; the other just got here last month and has just started duty. The AMMO LAR retired 2 months ago and has not been replaced. The new QASAS is very inexperienced.”

Liz blinked. “We need either an immediate LAR or QASAS that is experienced at Camp or Post.”

The Division G4 nodded. “I will contact the Career Office and request an immediate fill. But that means it will be several months.”

Liz shook her head. “We need QASAS help now; tell them to send some TDY.”

The Group and Base Commander both nodded. Group commander was blunt.” If the Career Office is hesitant, I will have SOCOM demand one ASAP.”

Liz looked at her notebook. “Need to have those brigade sergeants and specialists tomorrow if possible; ASAP anyway. Also I need the authorization to issue ammunition per regulation; need to cancel all previous permissions as well.”

Group nodded. “I will have your authorization to issue by NOON.

The Base Commander also nodded. “For the rest of the base by NOON as well. Your appointment as Ordnance company commander is already being worked on by my office.”

Liz sighed. “Someone probably needs to let 160th SOAR know about this. I am going to be here a lot longer than originally thought.”

Group nodded. “I will take care of that.”

The Base Commander mused. “I know Captain Parker left the Ordnance Company in very good shape and that was only four years ago. It is remarkable to me that it was allowed to deteriorate like it did, especially in the new climate as regards Ammunition. I only took command 3 months ago, but Colonel Johnson did not seem the sort to allow it to happen.”

Division G4 sighed. “It is more our fault than anyone else’s. With the new organization, technically we should have been keeping a closer watch but we just plain did not.” 

Group shrugged. “No point in worrying about blame; but we do need to make sure it does NOT happen again. If Captain Parker had not decided to go looking this morning rather than waiting for tomorrow, that ASP might have been left wide open until nighttime; and we would not have known about the IDS system.”

The Base Commander looked at him. “There is something wrong with the IDS system as well?”

Base Security grimaced. “Technicians are right now looking over the system; their preliminary report I got just before this meeting indicates the SF ASP had over rides placed on the IDS so they would not register as open unless specifically entered in the keyboard on the magazine control board.”

The Base Commander was shocked. “How long?”

“Not known at this time.”

Group sighed. “All involved will be given bad conduct discharges unless we find that there are serious shortages. In which case the CID will have even more to look for. Which is another reason the Inventory must be done ASAP.”

Liz had an ugly thought. “If the Main Post ASP has been working with the SF ASP to cover things up like it looks, is it possible they did the same thing to the Main Post ASP IDS?”

Everyone at the meeting had their jaws drop, fall off, and roll on the floor.

The Base Security chief pulled out his cell phone. “Thompson. I want those techs checking the Main Post ASP IDS ASAP. Yes for the same thing.” 

The Base Commander closed his eyes, Group leaned his head back. The Division G4 was very quiet. “It will be next to impossible to keep this from hitting the media.”

Group G4 looked at Liz. “Captain, there is a chance that by this time next week you might be the only one at this meeting with a job.” 

The meeting ended not too long after. Liz sat and thought for a while; then picked up her notebooks and headed home for the day. There really was nothing more she could do.

She came in the door and realized that Max was at his job and Aliya was still at school. So she just relaxed. The tension of the day got to her and she dozed off.

Max and Aliya came into the house and saw Liz on the sofa asleep. Max put his fingers to his lips and Aliya tip toed by and up to her room. Max quietly began to prepare dinner.

The smell of food woke Liz. She smiled and stretched and padded to the kitchen and sat at the table watching Max prepare dinner. He was a pretty good cook.

Max looked up and noted Liz at the table.

“Have a nice nap?”

“Ya. Needed it after today.”

“What happened?”

“Remember what I told you about the ASP here and the SF ASP when I first came to the Aviation Brigade?”

“Yeah.”

“Today I found both in even worse shape.”

He turned and looked at her and saw that she was very serious. At that point Aliya came in and Liz started to ask her about her day. He saw that she did not want to talk about it and did not bring it up again.

Liz before going to bed dug out all her old Ammunition reference material and packed it ready to take to the base in the morning. 

Liz opened up the SF ASP office at 0600. She took a better look around and made notes on what needed to be done. At 0630 she locked it up. Left a sign on the door for anyone to call the number to the main ASP office, which doubled as the Ordnance Company office. She headed there.

Liz walked into the office of the Main Post ASP and found the expected personnel from the Brigades sitting in the break room. She went into the office area and found no one. Went back to the break room and asked those there  
“Did any of the regulars from this office show up?”

A sergeant stood up. “No Captain. Security let us in to wait for you.”

She looked at him. Memory niggled. “Sergeant, I think you were in my 89B class.”

“Yes Ma’am. Jason Engler.”

“Where have you been posted?”

“Ist ID, Ft Riley for 6 years. Then here since.”

“Good. We will need your experience.”

“Who is the other 89B?”

“Here, Captain. Tom Simpson. Took 89B in 2007 and was sent here after.”

“OK here is the deal; one of you will be going to the SF ASP and one will stay here. Do either of you have a preference?”

“I would like to try the SF, Ma’am.” Came from Engler.

“Very well. Now I want to hear about the rest of you. How much experience each of you have.”

The answers were pretty good; none of them were fresh from training, all had some experience. All had been deployed at least once.

“Here is the situation. I don’t have to tell you that this ASP and the SF ASP are in sad shape or you would not be here. The Ordnance Company at this installation at this time consists of the people in this room. The remaining former members of it are either up on charges or will be transferred for cause. Two more sergeants, not 89B’s, will be in next week as transfers. One will go to SF and one will come here. More specialists will be brought in but you people and the two sergeants will be doing the work. Replacement officers will be brought in but unless I miss my guess none of them will have worked Ammunition. So you will have to train them alongside me. This will be the second time I had to rebuild the Ammunition Mission on this installation in the last 5 years. So I know the road.”  
Her official cell phone went off; she had gotten it yesterday.  
“Parker.”  
“Yes Sir. Understood sir.”  
“Ouch. When it rains it pours.”  
“Well that is good anyway. We will need them. What about replacements for here?”  
“Yes sir. If anymore collapses occur I will inform you.”  
Liz sighed. “Well the bad news is that the only QASAS on post resigned suddenly to take a position with a contractor elsewhere. The good news is that he will be replaced by an experienced set of QASAS. For the time being two Senior QASAS will be sent here TDY. So when they show up they will be helping out here; and training everyone. So the technical assistance problem will be taken care of. So there is light at the end of the tunnel and it is not an oncoming train. Officer replacements will be here by next week. But none of them have ammunition experience, just as I figured. The first thing we will be doing is a 100% inventory of both ASP’s. We will start here and then do the SF ASP. I was informed by Group G4 and Division G4 that there will be no critical training scheduled for at least the next few weeks. So any issues that would have to be done will be emergency ones. Which I will do. Any receipts of ammunition coming in we will handle. No shipments are scheduled. So we can concentrate on doing the inventory and getting the system fixed. One major factor will be the SOP’s; they are all out of date. The good news is that they were originally written by me at Ft Stewart then brought here the first time that I had to fix this place. So I know those SOPs. We just have to make sure they are up to date, which should not take long. We will do them right after we complete the inventories.”

At that point several officers came into the ASP. Liz went to meet them, Major Fresnel was with them.   
“Captain Parker, this is Captain Jamison of CID. And four of his officers. They will be conducting the investigation. The technicians confirmed that the IDS here was modified the same way the SF ASP IDS was compromised. The Division Commander has insisted that charges be filed on this and anything else serious found. So they and the technicians will be looking at the IDS for every magazine on base; then they will be accompanying you on the Inventory, which will be done as soon as the IDS is examined and any evidence removed. Then the IDS will be returned to its correct configuration.”

Liz nodded. “Very well. Is there an estimate how long that will take before we can begin the inventory?”

“They have been ordered to have it done by 0600 Thursday.”

“So I can expect to start the inventory at 0600 Thursday.”

“If not sooner.”

“Understood sir. Right now I intend all the personnel here to start examining our SOP’s to bring them up to date. We should have them done by Thursday and ready for staffing.”

“Get them started on that and then show the CID people here what the problems were.”

“Yes Sir.”

Liz turned to the 89B’s. “OK, you two split up the SOP’s and start going over them with everyone in two groups. When you are each done with redoing your set, exchange them so that each group can go over the other half of the SOP’s. That way everyone sees all of them.”

She then motioned the CID people to follow her into the main office area.  
“We will start with Key Control. Here is the AR 190-11, the parts on it that deal with Keys and Key control.” She had been given the combination to the safe by the Base Security Chief the previous afternoon. She then opened the safe and took out the keys to the key cabinet and opened it. They then counted the keys and found several missing. Liz looked in the cabinet and at the bottom of it inside its ledge were several keys. She found the key list and it was out of date, naturally. It did seem like they had keys to all the locks on the magazines, but would not know until it was checked. One of the CIC Lts had taken the pages Liz had copied and was taking notes on which parts of it the ASP was in violation. The list was growing steadily. None of the CAT 1 bunkers had two locks as it appeared; another major violation. The keys were not separated in two cabinets; one more. Liz looked around the office.  
“When I left here 4 years ago there was a second key cabinet for magazines with two locks. It is no longer here- it used to be right next to it.” She showed where it appeared a second cabinet used to be but no longer was. She then went to the safe and opened all the drawers and pulled out 4 spare locks still in their original boxes. 

The Main ASP gate was locked and two guards on duty. Liz told them to lock it after they got in and no one was allowed admittance. They then started on each magazine beginning with Mag 1. The first two rows all the mags had locks that opened to keys on the list; but they did not all match up. The 3 CAT 1 Magazines on the second row – containing items like Stingers and AT-4’s- all had only one lock, though that lock was correctly listed. So Liz added a second lock and entered that on a new key list. She was listing the magazines and locks on another key list. The third row was ok until the last one; its lock was not on the list and none of the keys Liz had would open it. She told the CID that a lock smith would have to be called to see if he could open it; if not a welding torch would cut the lock off.

After some discussion it was decided to do the same with the SF ASP, so they went back to the ASP office and Liz locked the cabinet and the safe. They then headed over to the other ASP office. Liz opened the building and went to the safe, opened it and pulled out the key to the key cabinet. She turned to the CID officers.  
“Yesterday this was open; I changed the lock and the combination to the safe; only myself and Major Fresnel know it.” There was a key list in the safe; it did not seem to follow what was listed on the hooks on the cabinet. There were keys on the bottom of the cabinet that Liz took as well. There were 2 Cat 1 bunkers; and like at the main ASP there appeared to be only one lock. There was also no second key list or second cabinet for a Cat 1 set of keys. Liz looked in the safe and took out the 6 new locks she had put in there the previous afternoon. She got a new key list and put it on another clipboard. They then headed out to the SF ASP. The gate was open but guarded by two guards; they informed Liz that the technicians were working on the IDS systems. Liz took the crew and they began to check the magazines. The first 4 were correctly listed; the next row 2 of 4 were listed; the other two were not correct and the keys on the hooks did not work; but fortunately two of the keys on the bottom did work. The third row, with the magazines without locks, was where the technicians were working on the IDS. They told Liz that simple jumper clips had been put on the terminals inside the box to bypass the IDS sensor on the door. They could not explain how this was done without Security finding out. Captain Jamison closely questioned him on it and was clearly not happy with the explanation. After they left that magazine he told Liz that it should not have been that easy. She agreed. She suggested that maybe they better call in some techs from another company and double check all this; he agreed and called up the Base Security commander who also agreed and would get on it. They did put a lock on each door so that now basic security was restored. The final row had the same problem as the second row; but Liz was able to find keys to unlock them. They then went back to the SF ASP office.

Captain Jamison looked at the list one of the LTs had been making at where the violations were in the AR 190-11. He looked at Liz.  
“8 Major Violations and 6 minor ones. Not counting the IDS. Pretty evenly split between the two ASP’s. I have never seen nor heard of anything this bad ever.”

Liz nodded. “Neither have I. But the Brass is going to have to decide whether to prosecute and thus make it much more likely the media gets a hold of this, or try and keep it quiet.” 

They then headed back to the main ASP office and locked up the SF ASP office.  
There Captain Jamison told Liz they would be writing up their preliminary report and would be waiting for her to start the Inventory.

Liz then went into the office for the commander and called first the Division G4 then the Group G4 and gave them the latest. She was told a meeting with the Division Commander was set for Weds at 1300 when he arrived back from DC where he had been at a Commanders conference.

Liz checked on the SOP progress and saw that it was good. Then she got a call from Base Security; the missing Sergeant had been found; he was in the drunk tank at a nearby town. He would be taken care of by the Base and would not be a problem for her. She thanked them for taking something off of her back. 

Liz sat down at the desk and thought about things. It amazed her that it got this bad here and that no one had noticed; and this was something that had not happened overnight; it had taken at least a year and probably two of steady deterioration. How all the signs had been missed was nothing short of incredible; and then she started to think about the interesting coincidence that both the ASP officers in charge had resigned from the military only days apart. Then she looked up as Major Fresnel came in and close the door behind him. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He did not look happy.  
“Captain Buchanan, the SF ASP commander, was not SF. Just regular Army. His quarters were checked and they are empty; all his personal effects are gone. His personal cell phone has been canceled; supposedly none of his personal contacts know anything about him leaving the service or where he is. Captain Sanders, the Main Post Ordnance commander, cleared post on Friday. Just one week after resigning. He also seems to have vanished. Captain Jamison is of the opinion that this is all too coincidental and I have to agree.”

“I was just thinking about that. For them to up and disappear that fast, tells me that they knew the jig was up; might have gotten a hint of someone starting to check up on things. Now they could be counting on the Army not wanting publicity and just letting them go; or it could be something else. They had to know they were facing court martial and time in Leavenworth. Maybe they were doing more than just doing as little as they could and ignoring anything that would have made them actually work. I have a nasty feeling that we might find a fair amount of inventory missing and no paperwork describing where it went. I hate to suggest this, we might need to contact the FBI and ATF and see if there were any large amounts of military ammunition suddenly showing up in the black market.”

Major Fresnel had gotten a little paler as Liz described her worry. He then pulled out his cell phone.  
“Sir, have you been told about the two Captains missing and no one being able to contact them? Captain Parker is thinking that we might have to start thinking of a worse possibility then what we have so far been looking at; that those two might have been selling ammunition. Yes sir. If anything more comes up I will let you know.”

Liz had been going further down that dark road. When he hung up she quietly asked him about the LT that had transferred out and was supposedly in Europe and the Lt that had left the military one month ago.  
“Maybe all of this is just making me paranoid, but what if all four of them were working together?”

“I keep wondering how this can get worse. I need to stop doing that. We need to get that Inventory done ASAP.” He then left the office and Liz began to start digging into the files for Receipts and also for inventory records and a stock count showing what was supposed to be in storage.

She went out and got a quick lunch and was back in the office digging into things. Then she went to the SF ASP Office and did the same. Finally getting back to the MAIN ASP office she looked at the stock accounts and began to see if she could find anything noticeably wrong. That did not take long. At 1500 her phone rang.  
“Parker.”

“Captain Parker, this is Captain Jamison. I just got off the phone with CID HQ in FT Belvoir and they do not like what it is beginning to look like. Col Green, the Chief here at Campbell, just got back from Leave and wants a full briefing. I would like you to be there; he just got in and is looking over what we have so far. Could you come down to the Office?”

“Yes, I have been looking at some records and stock reports and there are indications that it might have been happening. I can be there in about 20 minutes.” 

Jamison hung up the phone and looked at his CO. “She said she would be up here in about 20 minutes and that from looking at the records so far there are indications that it may have happened.”

Col Green shook his head. “Captain Parker; THE Captain Parker?”

“Yes sir.”

“She does seem to find the sticky end of things all too often for one person.”

“Yes sir, but on the other hand she is extremely competent.”

Liz got her paperwork into a folder and headed out to the office area where they were all still going at it on the SOP’s.  
“I am going to a meeting at CID. If I am not back by 1800 close up and send everyone home for the night. But have everyone back at 0600 tomorrow” to Sergeant Engler.

“Yes Ma’am.”

Liz got to CID HQ and was directed to the CO’s Office. She went in and was introduced to Col Green by Captain Jamison.

Col Green got right down to it.  
“This whole thing reads like a damn conspiracy nuts book. So far we have been unable to track down either captain or the two Lts that have also slipped from sight. The one in Europe has not followed the itinerary that he provided when he went on leave. He was supposed to go to England and then Germany; he went to England but the trail ends there. He was scheduled to pick up a rental car two days ago and then drive to Germany and then back a week later. He never showed up for the car. All efforts so far to find the other officers have come up empty. The LT drunk here says he knows nothing; his record shows alcohol problems but he was requested by Captain Sanders and was transferred here 18 months ago. My suspicion is that Captain Sanders wanted a drunk at that position so that he would not notice anything. We just have been able to get permission to check their bank accounts and nothing suspicious showed up on any of the four.”

Liz opened her folder. “Sir, a large amount of 7.62 X 39 ammunition was in the SF account to be used for various purposes including training on AK 47’s for covert operations. I was able to find old files going back 5 years. The usage went up drastically about 14 months ago; just about the time the 5th Group sent out a lot of their personnel for deployment. Which on one hand would make sense; issue to take with and to use in training before they left. However the usage remained constant for the next 12 months only dropping off a month ago; just when many of the units got home. A large amount of the same ammunition was transferred to the SF account on paper and not online where it can be traced by higher HQ. JMC and the WARS report each show a much higher amount of that ammunition here at Campbell then the latest stock report –once again not the online official report-shows. If what I think is correct 500,000 rds is missing.”

Col Green sighed and nodded. “Captain Parker, from your experience in Ammunition operations, how hard would that be to hide?”

“Sir I am willing to bet that we will find few if any documents for that ammo; and those that we do will only have the signatures of those four officers on them. SF is known for doing strange things; SOCOM is basically its own world; so it would be easy to claim that it is because of that that that the ammo use is not unusual for THEM. If they were halfway careful, no one would notice. Especially if they kept it constant and steady so that it seems normal after a while. And since those four officers did the entire so called inventory for the SF ASP as both inspectors and checkers, no one else would know.”

“What about CAT 1 items and CAT 2 items such as demolition charges?”

“Sir I checked them first; it is very hard to do anything with CAT 1 items due to the monthly inventory requirement and constant worldwide over sight. Nothing looks suspicious there. Same with those CAT 2 items. Any change is very visible. But once again if all 4 were in on this; and the only other one a drunk everyone ignores and probably never sees, it could be possible. If something was done there they just put them in a truck and haul them out. No issue documents at all. One of the sergeants was a drunk as well. Would not be hard to forge his signature on inventory records. Or Catch him when he is hung over and just have him sign something he does not even remember signing. Same with the drunk Lt.”

Col Green was quiet for a minute then picked up his phone. “Colonel Sims, this is Colonel Green CID. I am here talking with Captain Parker and what she has already dug up indicates that selling ammunition was almost certainly happening. Clear signs of small arms ammunition. But what worries me is that from the way the system is designed, if all 4 of our missing officers were in on it, we could also be seeing CAT 1 and CAT 2 items gone as well. Yes sir. I agree.” He hung up.   
“He wants a meeting now at Divisional HQ. The General just got in; he like I think this cannot be put off.”  
Liz got her papers together. “Sir, is the 5th Group Commander in on this?”

“He did not say. You better call him.”

Liz pulled out her official phone. “Colonel Collins, this is Captain Parker. Sir that apocalyptic possibility I mentioned yesterday? It is looking more and more like that might have happened. There is a meeting with the Base Commander and Col Green of CID and the Division Commander who just got back that will happen basically as soon as everyone gets there. I would say 20 minutes.”

Col Green and Captain Jamison were looking at her. Col Green spoke first.  
“Apocalyptic?”

“Sir at that time I was being slightly facetious.”

“It is not a joke or even close to one now.”

“No sir.”

Liz got in her vehicle and they got in the Colonels vehicle and headed to Divisional HQ.

Liz was thinking as she drove; could they have been selling Stingers? She had heard rumors that some had hit the black market; but that had always been thought to have come from somewhere other than the US. Maybe they had come from here. 

They all headed to the HQ building and as they pulled up the 5 Group Commander and his G4 arrived at the same time. They all headed into the building and to the Divisional HQ office. They were shown right into the office where the Base commander and Divisional G4, as well as Major Fresnel and the Base Security Commander were already present. Introductions were made and everyone sat down; the Divisional commander indicated that Liz sit beside him at the table in the conference room adjoining the office. He started off.  
“I came in early after I got the initial report yesterday. I get here and the story gets worse by the hour. Colonel Green, start off.”

He described the situation as they had talked earlier. The Divisional commander sat with a stone face then looked at Liz.  
“Captain Parker, I want you to do an inventory on all CAT 1 and 2 items ASAP. As soon as this meeting is over I want that started. Who do you need?”

Liz had been thinking about it. “The 2 89B’s and one specialist with TAMIS experience. We should be able to get a count very fast and I can compare it with the WARS report. That can probably be done for the 4 MAGS in the MAIN ASP and the 3 MAGs in the SF ASP in about 20-30 minutes each. A total of 4-5 hours.”  
“Very well. I want this done tonight.” Liz nodded and pulled out her cell phone and called the ASP. “This is Captain Parker; I need Sergeant Engler.”   
“Sergeant Engler, I have been ordered to do an immediate Inventory on CAT 1 and CAT 2 Items tonight. I am at a meeting and will be down soon as it is over. You and Sergeant Simpson as well as one of the TAMIS specialists. Pick one. Send everyone else home and wait there for me.”

The General looked around the room. “People we have to face the facts that we are all going to have to carry part of this can. No one here will be considered not partly to blame except Captain Parker. Myself because I am senior here; Base and Group commanders because of their commands. G4’s as this is supply. Security and CID for not finding out something was going wrong for quite a while. All we can do is make it right as best we can and accept the consequences. I am going to call the SECDEF and let him know the situation; so this will be going to the White House. I have no doubt it is a matter of time before the media twigs on this overturned garbage can stinking up the base. Captain Parker, what do you see missing at this point?”

“Sir right now I am fairly sure of 500,000 rds of 7.62 X 39. It is more than likely that is the bulk of the problem unless we find CAT 1 or 2 Material missing.”

He then looked at Col Green. “IF a Stinger is missing, how much could one sell that for on the black market?”

“Sir, one would have to have contacts for that to get any real money. But if you could reach someone, the price could be anywhere from $100,000 to a million each.”

“So that is the worst possibility?”

“Yes sir a missing stinger would be the worst possibility.”

“Then we find that out first. Captain Parker, get started on it. I want to know the minute you suspect a Stinger is gone.”

“Yes Sir.” Liz picked up her folder and left the room and got to the Office in 15 minutes to find the three waiting for her.  
After she left the general looked at Col Green. “Send CID with her.”  
“Yes sir” and he looked at Captain Jamison who nodded and left.

Liz motioned them to follow her. She went into the office and opened the safe, then the key cabinet and pulled out the keys to the CAT 1 and 2 magazines. She then closed the cabinet and then the safe. The three had clipboards and the TAMIS clerk had a copy of the latest WARS report. They were just leaving when Captain Jamison drove up and poked his head out of his hummer.  
“I get to watch.”

Liz nodded and headed to the ASP. They got to the first magazine which had CAT 2 items in it. They opened it up and quickly started to count. After 20 minutes they looked at the count and the latest planograph report and it matched. The clerk was keeping a running count on the items found. They went to the next magazine that had AT-4’s and other AT missiles. Once again the count was good. Then they went to the next magazine that had Stingers in it.  
Liz noticed that none of the stinger boxes were strapped to their pallets. She looked at Sgt Engler. “I have not been in a Stinger Mag for years; but I remember that usually they were strapped down.”

He nodded. “Yes Ma’am.”

Liz went to the first one and tried to lift it; the weight felt right. She looked at the two sergeants and they checked every box in the magazine. All appeared to be of the right weight. Liz then had them check the seals on the boxes. All appeared intact. She checked the count on the planograph and it matched. She looked around and saw nothing suspicious. Then motioned them to go out.  
As they locked the door she looked at Engler. “We will band them to pallets later.”

“Yes Ma’am.”

The next magazine had Stingers as well and it also looked good though it also had none of them banded to pallets.

That finished the MAIN ASP. They went back to the office and put the keys away. It was 1900 and getting dark. They headed over to the SF ASP. Got to the office and opened it up. Liz went through the routine and got the keys. They headed to the SF ASP. They went to the one CAT 2 magazine first and checked it; it looked good. Liz then went to the TAMIS clerk and checked the running accounts.  
“Looks like CAT 2 lines up with the WARS report.”

“Yes MAAM.”

Then they went to the CAT 1 MAG, Stingers and AT-4’s. They found the same there; not banded but looking good with seals and the weights were right as regards trying the boxes. The AT-4’s were properly banded and sealed and looked good; the count matched. So they locked up the mag and headed to the last. By now they were more relaxed as it looked as if the worst possibility was not going to happen.  
The last Magazine was a mixture of US and foreign CAT 1 missiles. They first did the AT missiles; some us AT-4’s and some Russian ones. The count looked good. There were a dozen Stingers; they were banded to pallets at 4 to a pallet. The seals on the boxes looked good. Then there were some Russian SA-7’s; banded and sealed. Then there were some Russian SA-14’s. In loose boxes. Liz looked at them and the seals seemed good; she lifted a corner on one and the box came up easily.  
Too easily.

She took a deep breath and looked at Sgt Engler. “Get those tools; we are opening this up.” He nodded and went out to the truck that Liz had been using; it had some basic banding tools and other tools that could be used to open boxes and containers. Meanwhile Liz went to the pallet of Stingers and pushed at it; it seemed heavy enough. Captain Jamison came over and gave it a push as well and it still seemed heavy enough. They went over to the SA-7’s and it also seemed heavy enough. Meanwhile Engler came back in and he and Simpson began to open the box. It took about 5 minutes and they pulled it open and all five of them looked inside.

At an empty box.   
Liz then looked at them; “ALL of them now.” Then she went outside the magazine and called the General. 

“General we have an empty SA-14 box right now; we are opening the others. All the Stingers look good and the SA-7’s as well.”

“Call me as soon as you have opened all of them.”

Liz looked at the TAMIS clerk. “Use that camera; take pictures of each box that we find empty.”

Captain Jamison had been making a call as well. He finished and looked at her.  
“Now what?”

“We see how many are gone. There are supposed to be 8; they each have everything in the box to fire; missile, control and BCU.”

In 20 minutes they were all open; all were empty. Liz made the call.

“General we have 8 SA-14’s missing from boxes that were sealed. There is no indication anything else CAT 1 or 2 are missing.”

“That is enough. Did they have everything to fire?”

“Yes sir. These are fairly new ones, so the life of the BCU will probably be good for several more years.”

Liz was thinking about things as they left the Magazine and closed it up for the night. She talked to Captain Jamison.

“They did this probably on a weekend when no one was around. I would bet that they had been selling the small arms steadily in a way no one would notice; this would be their big score. I imagine they could get $100,000 or more for each one. They probably bundled them out in the back of this truck under a tarp. Then transferred them to one of their vehicles. Then crated them up and somehow shipped them to Europe where that LT is right now. And where I bet all the others are by now as well.”

“Two places in Europe; one Spain and sell to the Basque Separatists but that is tough to do so I doubt it. The other is the former Yugoslavia; somewhere down there. Then there is the possibility of trying to sell them to the Chechnyans for use against the Russians.”

“Or farther to Turkey to sell to the Kurdish separatists.”

“True. But every case there they would have to make contact with someone in each group.”

“Which would be very risky; I bet they managed to find an arms dealer and they sold them to him for resale later to the highest bidder.”

“I agree.” 

“The AK ammo could have been sold at Gun Shows and the like; so much of that around and a lot of it are sold in the original Russian boxes. So it would not be noticed. Probably get $500 a box. That would be 200 boxes or $100,000. I would not be surprised to find out more of other types are gone as well. Probably been doing this for the last year and a half. I think Buchanan panicked and took off; he probably felt and rightly so he would be arrested for all of this before we even found the shortages.”

“There is already a worldwide alert for all four of them on Interpol.”

“If one is going to mess up my money is on Buchanan; the others had time to make arrangements. He had to move fast.”

“He is the one we have the best chance of finding.”

It was 2000 and another meeting was being held at the Divisional HQ.

“I have talked to the SECDEF and he is not happy to say the least. He wants all the CAT 1 containers opened up so that we can visually confirm they are there. How long would that take, Captain?”

“If we have some help, forklifts and other support, and personnel to do the banding and rebanding, multiple crews can get it done in one day easily.”

“Make a list and you will get it.”

“Yes sir.”

“I want this started at 0600 tomorrow morning.”

“I have some good news sir.”

“Well I need some what is it?”

“The IDS systems have all been restored; turns out there was a fundamental flaw in the design that allowed a simple bypass to work. Every IDS system of this design worldwide will have to be modified to prevent this. We would not have found that out otherwise.”

“Small comfort, Captain Jamison.”

“Yes sir.”

“No point in extending this meeting any farther; we might as well all go home and start working on our resumes for our next jobs. As you pointed out, Captain Parker in a month will be the only one with a job with the US Army.”

Liz thought about that as she went home. Some would call that unfair; but they had been here while it was happening. Even the 101st people had been there before deployment. The Base Personnel though would catch it the worst.

Liz got in and found Max waiting for her. He went into the kitchen and started to warm up something for her. She had not eaten anything since lunch and was very hungry.  
“How bad?”

Liz debated for a moment and then figured it would get out sooner or later.  
“At least half a million rds for AK-47’s and 8 SA-14’s.”

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah.”

Liz had given the G4 the list for the next day; 8 forklift operators 4 each for 2 Crews, 6 people for banding and unbanding for each crew; she would have one TAMIS specialist and one of the 89B’s on each crew.

The next morning Liz got up early and was at the Main ASP at 0530. Getting ready. The people started coming in before 0600. After thinking about it some more she left both 89B’s with the MAIN ASP crew and took the SF crew herself.

The Main ASP crew was opening magazines at 0700. Actually Liz opened all 4 of them and left the keys with them. She then headed to the SF ASP. By 0800 they were at it there. IT went faster than Liz had hopped; each box was opened and the SN verified with what was on record and on the box. By 1400 they were done and nothing wrong was found.

The worldwide alert worked; in Paris the French spotted Buchanan. He was using his civilian Passport. He had flown to England on Friday and had rented a small car and had driven to Paris where he had gotten there on Sunday. Wednesday morning the French got lucky as he rented another vehicle and had to use his Passport for identification and that rang bells. They followed him as he left Paris and drove south then East and entered Switzerland. There the Swiss took over as he kept going East into Austria and then into Hungary where he stopped in Budapest. The Hungarians had him and watched him as he met with three other men. They were identified as the ones most wanted. They tracked them to a meeting with an arms dealer and bagged the whole lot Thursday afternoon. Faced with prison in Hungary they gave up the location of the missiles; a crate shipped to France two weeks earlier. The Arms dealer had assisted them in doing it; he had met Captain Sanders when he had been in Germany on a tour the year before he was sent to the 101st. All four of them would be shipped back to the US for trial.

Liz got the news that they had been caught and the missiles found just as she gave the report to the General.  
“Well, did they ask about the small arms?”

“Yes. They had been, as you surmised, selling it box by box at gun shows steadily for over a year. We got a list of what they sold; some US ammo as well; but mostly that AK ammo and other Russian Ammo.”

“We will still need to do a full inventory just to make sure the records are straight.”

“Get started on that on Monday. You did say you wanted the SOP’s done.”

“True. We can get those done on Friday.”

The SECDEF was giving the good news to the President.  
“This could have been a lot worse, sir. This is the worst incident of this kind in almost 40 years.”

“And again Captain Parker was instrumental?”

“Yes sir. By starting to check the ASP when she did the whole ball started rolling. Otherwise it would have been at least 12 hours later before we knew anything was wrong. Captain Sanders had recruited most of the people specifically because they were drunks and drug users and unmotivated and unreliable. That in the end is what caught them. And if Captain Parker had not mentioned the possibility of the CAT 1 and 2 problem, that inventory would not have happened that day. If she had not thought to check the boxes for weight, it would not have been found as they were all properly sealed. I believe the French would not have pushed so hard if we had not told them the SA14’s were missing. One more day and the deal would have been done and they would have been gone to who knows where.”

“It seems like an almost monthly occurrence that she does something.”

“Does seem that way sir.”

“I take it she will get recognition for this?”

“I believe her promotion to Major would be coming this year anyway with her record.”

“See to it she has that promotion by the day she and her unit are recognized at the White House.”

“Yes sir.”

“I can expect a report and recommendations on how this can be prevented in the future when?”

“Within the month sir. Though I would say the chances of this being pulled off again are very remote.”

“Still it did happen once.”

“Yes sir.”

That Friday they did manage to get the SOP’s done by the end of the day and Liz sent them out to be staffed after she read each one.

The Saturday Liz thought about resting but the weather was beautiful and she and the rest of the Posse and the Crew had their usual twice a month Saturday picnic.

Liz was buttonholed right away after eating and the children were running around.  
Ellen started it off.  
“OK, Liz. Spill. Something happened; half the installation is buzzing. Everyone knows that the ASP’s are all screwed up and you have to fix it. But it is more than that, isn’t it?”

“Yes something happened and No I am not talking about it.”  
And they got nothing else despite every trick and entreaty tried. Max also refused to say a word.

Starting the Next week Liz got in 2 LTs for the Main ASP and 1 LT for the SF ASP. The two sergeants processed in. Some more specialists were made available and except for the two commanding officers the TOE was full. 3 more 89B specialists from the next class would be sent in June. So Liz was confident that by July or August at the latest the Ordnance Company and both ASP’s would be fine. On Friday she was summoned to the Division HQ for a meeting with the General.

“How are things going, Captain?”

“Except for the new 89B’s arriving next month and the new commanding officers, we are complete as regards TOE. I have good personnel who just have to learn the ropes. We will be starting the 100% inventory on Monday and hope to have both ASP’s done by Friday.”

“Excellent. By the way you will need these to add to your class A’s.” And proceeded to take off her Captain’s Bars and replace it with the gold Oak Leaf signifying a Major.

Liz blinked. He smiled. “You would have gotten that this fall but it was accelerated by order of the President so that when he gives you your Presidential Unit Citation, you will be wearing them. Now head down to Personnel to finish the paperwork. Good day, Major.”

“Thank You, sir.” Said a slightly dazed Liz.

She was smiling as she got home. She wondered how long Max would take to recognize it. It turned out that Aliya beat him to it. When she got home from school she hugged Liz as usual then stopped and stared at her.  
“What is it honey?”

“When did you get promoted?”

They had fun that weekend just staying home and being a family. Even though Liz still had almost 7 more months to go Aliya wanted to start looking at baby names. 

It was interesting Monday when Liz came to the Main ASP to start the 100% inventory. Everyone was caught off guard by her promotion. She had made it clear they would be starting at 0600 and would be in the first magazine by 0700 and she pushed and prodded to get it done. The CAT 1 magazines had been done already; the CAT 2 magazines were quickly done as it was a matter of making sure that all the MDC’s were updated and the items were correctly palletized and the magazine was orderly. The two TDY QASAS were also present; one of them would be checking each magazine for its semiannual inspection. They also made sure that all condition code tags were correct and noted any packaging that would need to be replaced. Of the 30 magazines, 14 of them were done by the end of the day. By the end of Tuesday 22 were done. The rest were done Wednesday. Thursday they started the SF ASP and 10 of them were done on that day. By 1400 Friday they were all done. Most of the MDC’s had to be updated or replaced; but the overall counts were not far off. The missing small arms correlated to what had been admitted by the felons. Liz would spend the next week writing up the reports and making sure all the quantities were correct on the WARS report.

Liz made the first report to the General, G4 and Base Commander; the second for the SF to the Group Commander and the group G4. At 1800 a C-40 landed at Campbell and picked up A Company and related personnel and family members; around 110 total to take them to DC for the award ceremony. Liz was happy to be with the pilots and ground crew; they were happy to see her promotion; and they like everyone else tried to get her to talk about what really had happened at the ASP. Everyone knew about the stoned incident; and that something else had happened that was big. But the details had not gotten out which had surprised Liz; the two sergeants and the specialist had kept their mouths shut.

Nancy and Ted had scheduled a vacation in the NE at that time so they would be there as well; Liz made sure they got their invitations. Nancy had surprised Liz with a quick marriage to Ted that previous Christmas; Liz had wanted to be there but Nancy told her it was a spur of the moment thing. Liz was glad her mother was no longer alone and she liked Ted.

When Liz had checked her Class A uniform, making sure everything looked right and all her ribbons were correctly done, Max had been very quiet. She had just made sure her gold flight wings were correct when she noticed Max had not said anything. She turned towards him and noticed a look on his face she had never seen before.   
“What is it Max?”

He got up and pulled her to him and sat down on the bed with her on his lap. Then he very quietly said  
“It just hit me as I saw you there with all those ribbons and I realized that I have never told you just how proud I am to be your husband. You are just coming up on 10 years in uniform and you have easily twice the ribbons I got in 20. And you earned every one. There are full generals who do not have as many. And very few have the ones you do; Presidential Medal of Freedom, DSC, DFC, 2 Presidential Unit Citations, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and all the rest; 20 of them. And every single one of them you absolutely earned by what you did. I love you and I will always be proud to be your husband.”

Liz was a little misty eyed at that. Aliya had looked at her when she showed her uniform and quietly said  
“The girls at school said you have more medals than any woman ever has. Are you a hero?”

Max had placed his hand over Liz’s mouth before she could say anything.  
“Honey, it is not right for a hero to say it herself. It is for others to say. And yes your mother is a hero.”

Liz was thinking of that. The ceremony would be at 10; then there would be pictures and a quick press conference then the whole crowd of awardees and family would have a formal lunch at the White House. Liz dreaded the press conference but had been told it would be short. IT was all carefully choreographed. 

Liz stood back with the unit as she waited for the signal. She would lead them up to the area and then stand at the center while the rest would file in behind her. She took a deep breath and steadied herself. Tripping and falling would just be something to make you want to die.

Then she was signaled and she marched out and went right to the spot that had a very small X on it and stood at attention there. The rest of company A and their crew chiefs and ground crew filled in behind her; 56 in all. The National Anthem was played by the Marine Band.

The President gave a short speech; then stood beside the flag and Liz marched up to him, Saluted and stood at attention. He nodded to her and he gave her the plaque for the Unit. She shook his hand and with it at her side in her left hand took two steps back and saluted again and remained at attention.

“From the period 30 June 2010 through 15 May 2011 Company A, 1st Battalion, 101st Aviation Brigade, United States Army conducted 275 missions in Afghanistan in Kandahar and Helmand provinces. In support of Operation Enduring Freedom, Company A escorted and supported the forces of the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, United States Special Forces, British Army, Royal Air Force, Royal Marines, and Special Air Service. In those 275 missions not one single member of the Allied coalition lost their life. That is a record unmatched in modern History. In those missions they severely damaged the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In recognition of that achievement, their Commander, Major Elizabeth Parker, and the Pilots and Copilots of Company A and their ground crews that ensured their Apache Helicopters would fly, are hereby awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for unparalleled achievement during Combat in the face of the Enemy.” 

Liz then marched out with the company behind her to the rear of the Rose Garden where they collected. Liz looked around and gave a whistle that got everyone’s attention.  
“I think it is more than likely, that we will never again all be together as we are today. Sad but true. You guys were the very best any one could ask for to fight alongside of. I was honored to be your commander. Good luck and god bless all of you.”

Ted Dugan yelled “Three cheers for Doberman!”

And they did. Then Liz made them line up and she saluted, then shook the hand then hugged every single one of them. 

Unknown to all of them, this was caught by a FOX News camera crew that managed to wiggle past the normal restrictions.

Then Liz was taken as the official sacrificial lamb to the Press Room for questions and pictures.

Liz made quite a picture; petite and very cute; and ribbons out the yang. There were dozens of flashes.

Then the questions.

“Major Parker, were you surprised that your command managed to make it through all of those missions with the loss of a single life?”

“Of Course. Anyone would be. The worst part of it was at the very end when that got out; the last few missions were very nerve wracking.”

“Major Parker, is it true you have transferred out of the 101st Aviation Brigade?”

“Yes. I asked for and received a transfer to the 160th SOAR.”

“Major Parker, doesn’t that make you the first woman pilot of the 160th SOAR?”

“I believe so.”

“Major Parker, how do you feel about that?”

“Well, someone has to be the first.”

“Major Parker, is it true that you had to force your way back to Afghanistan; that you were originally going to be left behind?”

“There was some discussion of that for various reasons but in the end the US Army realized that a commander should go with her troops into combat.”

At that point much to her relief the questions were cut off and she escaped to the dinner.

As their commander Liz was placed to the right of the President at the long table. Aliya was alongside and Max beside her. She had huge eyes at everything. Liz managed to keep small talk going with the president. Who mentioned something she had not talked about.

“Major, I was very interested in your mission to find those documents. It was explained to me but somehow I do not think they got it right. Exactly what maneuver did you do to land there?”

Liz took a deep breath. “Sir, the place I had to land was on a ledge at just over 16,000 feet. Now many people do not know this but it is just about impossible for a helicopter to hover at much over 10,000 feet. You have to be moving forward or you will drop. The Mountain was 18,000 feet high. I came over the top of the mountain then around it slowly losing altitude till I could land on the ledge. I had about 2-3 feet clearance from the tips of the rotor to the side of the mountain. And taking off was just as interesting since I had to be very careful or it would stall out; and at that altitude you are very vulnerable to any kind of wind. I unloaded everything in it except for 100 rds of 30MM and a main fuel tank at about 60%. That is something I really do not want to do again if I do not have to.”

“I think that would be a wise decision.” 

Liz did not realize that Max had heard that.

Eventually everything was over and they were able to escape at 1300. The C-40 would pick them up at 1600, so they had a couple of hours or so to make it to Andrews. The rest went in a bus but Liz, Max and Aliya went with Ted and Nancy who had rented a minivan. They went down the mall to the Viet Nam wall; and walked through the area. Finally getting in the van to go to Edwards. Liz was glad to spend some time with her mother. She walked with Aliya between her and Max as they headed over to get on the plane.

C-SPAN covered the ceremony so many on Campbell watched. The Posse instead to going to the park congregated with the Crew and friends at Susan’s house where they watched it. They cheered when Liz marched out leading her company. They were silent when the award was read. Susan looked at Vicki.   
“Just how big is that?”

“No one getting killed? Huge. Everyone in the brigade knew Liz’s company was the best. Pretty soon the whole division knew it. You always felt better when A company and Liz were watching over you.”

Susan looked at her husband and he nodded. “Word got out; I know we always felt better when Liz was there. Getting towards the end of the tour I know it got almost to knife fighting for who would get her company as escort. When she spent that time taking care of the British it got us all down; we wanted her with us taking care of her own. When she got back everyone relaxed; you could feel it. Somehow we just all knew it was ok. We only lost a handful of people on that tour anyway; but no one had any doubt a lot more would have died if Liz and her company wasn’t there. B Company was solid and did well but not as good as A company, not close. And until the end of the tour NO one wanted C Company.”

Jesse nodded. “C Company had problems; their commander was good but he had some dud pilots. Finally the word got out that after a mission Liz went to the Battalion Commander and flat out told him that something had to be done. SO they grabbed Liz’s XO and fired a couple of the pilots and the company got a lot better. Some of the pilots felt if Liz had not gone and raised hell nothing would have been done.”

Ellen chimed in. “You could feel it at the mission brief. The first thing we always did was see who was the escort; if it said A company you relaxed. Anyone else and you were tense until you got back from the mission.”

Ruth was quiet. Then she said  
“I have convinced Joe to put in for recruiting duty. He expects to get it this fall sometime. He has a shot at getting duty around here so we do not have to leave. Enough is enough. Liz would not have been back even if she had not transferred; and I do not want my husband out there again.”

Becky sighed. “We have been talking about it; if we do not get Iraq for the next deployment he is finding a way out.”

Susan nodded. “Same here.”

Ellen looked at the others. They nodded. “Same with us. We are not going back to Afghanistan a third time.”

In a big house in Savanna, three friends watched the ceremony.  
Isabelle blinked at a close up of Liz. “Wait a minute, she has the ribbon for a DFC; when did she get that?”

Maria and Tess looked at each other and shrugged.  
Tess looked thoughtful. “She did not have it after the last tour; she did not have it when she got the Medal of Freedom. So it happened on this tour and they do not give that out easily.”

Maria was thinking hard. “Liz said something about having to do a couple of missions for the Company, the CIA. Wanna bet she had to pull some spook out of trouble and that is how she got it?”

Isabelle and Tess nodded. “Probably” they chorused. 

“Liz sure does have a lot of fruit salad. And she will get a lot more when she starts flying for the 160th SOAR.”

By the end of August, Liz felt that the situation with the Ordnance Company and the ASP’s was pretty much taken care of. The two new captains had been selected and while not Ammunition types, were solid officers. The rest of the personnel were doing well. The new 89B’s had arrived and that helped as well. Liz was making sure that all the ammunition personnel were getting training by the new QASAS, who were both very experienced. 

SECDEF had ordered a review and a report on the situation; and was looking for suggestions on how to make sure nothing like that could happen again. Liz felt personally that as usual the military was over reacting to a once in a lifetime situation by trying to double lock the barn door long after the horse had been stolen. Also as usual when a team is picked, it is very senior people who have not worked with ammunition or in an ASP for many years if ever. When they showed up at the beginning of June to talk to Liz, she was ready for them.

There was of course a general, a senior QASAS, a senior Ammunition Manager, and a couple of other senior types. They sat in the conference room at Division HQ and asked her for her observations.

Liz looked at them calmly.  
“You are mostly not going to like what I have to say.”

The general looked at her. “Major Parker that is an interesting statement. Care to elaborate?”

“I started out my career as an 89B before that MOS had any respect. I saw how the SENIOR Army leadership treated my MOS and Ammunition in general. Then I went into Aviation but got brought back temporarily to fix this installations Ordnance Company. Then 4 years later I have to do it again. BUT the situations had different causes. The first time was because of the general neglect of the Ammunition Field. The Second time had two reasons; one a once in a lifetime coincidence that had corrupt and dishonest multiple officers in one place. Sent here as a dumping ground. The other was the reorganization for what was either the second or third time in the last 10 years of the supply and support organizations of the Army. I have not bothered to keep track. It created a situation where once again you had permanent party personnel here at the ASP and in Ordnance. And that created the opportunity for the incident. Ammunition has a better situation overall in the US Army and the military then it has had for over 30 years. But of course there are still problems. There always will be. You solve one or two and create one or two more. And one of the biggest problems is right here in this review team. Basically its composition insures that there will be more rules and regulations that are not thought out and the critical input that could help will be ignored.”

The whole room got very still. The General said quietly “Major, are you saying that this review team is part of the problem and not the solution?”

“Yes Sir.”

“And why is that?”

“General, when was the last time you actually worked in an ASP?”

“Never have and you believe recent experience is that important?”

“Yes sir. Has anyone in this room actually worked at an ASP in the last 10-20 years?”

No one said a thing.

The General was silent for a moment, and then sighed.  
“I was told that you probably would not respond in a way that we expected. I can now see that was a huge understatement.”

The Senior QASAS then spoke up.  
“Major Parker, I am willing to bet that you already have proposals. So why not just tell us what they are?”

“Very well sir. Review teams are not a bad idea; how they are put together is where the failure is. You need less senior people with fairly recent experience at working at ASP’s. Now not saying no senior people but that the majority of the team should be younger and more in touch with how it is done down here and what the real demands and problems are. That will also help them talk to the people there without the intimidation factor. All too often a review team is given a carefully managed picture. Right now review teams are scheduled at least a year in advance. Gives the installation a full year to cover things up and make it look better than it really is. And then they know that it will be a minimum of two years before that team comes back. A perfect breeding ground for problems. I think a page needs to be taken out of the book written by General Curtis Lemay when he formed the Strategic Air Command. No notice inspections that could come at any time. Which was a big factor in why SAC has been shown to have been one of the best and most competent military commands of all time. Now we do not need to go to those extremes. Say a one month notice. Not enough time for the installation to really cover things up as long as a good team is picked.”

There was more silence in the room. Then the General spoke.  
“I rather doubt that is all.”

“No sir. As regards something like what happened here, that would do a pretty good job on making sure it did not happen again. But I also recommend that at least once a year an independent inventory team comes to each installation and looks things over. And have the installation QASAS go with them looking as well. If both teams are put together correctly and used intelligently, then that would go a long way towards making sure nothing like this can ever happen again. We do not need a new system, or new regulations. Just a better process to catch problems before they get really bad.” 

The senior Ammunition manager spoke up.  
“You do not see the need for tightening anything up?”

“No sir. The Regulations are fairly clear; a process needs to be in place to make sure that they are obeyed. I happen to think that the situation in the Ammunition Community is much better than it was; this was a one off that almost certainly will never happen again. It would be foolish to over react to it.”

The General, she noticed, was smiling.  
“It is rare that so many senior experts get told they are full of crap. But I cannot honestly disagree with anything you have said.”

The senior QASAS was smiling a little as well.  
“I doubt I will see it again. Well, we are here so we might as well head down to the ASP and look things over.”

Liz took them to the Main ASP office first; where they looked at the records and that there was once again two key cabinets, correct procedures and paper work. Then to the ASP itself and the magazines and looked in a couple. Then to the SF ASP and did it all again. The Senior QASAS was looking at the SOP’s.  
“Major, these look familiar.”

“They are all versions of the SOP’s I wrote at Ft Stewart when I was there. When I rebuilt the ordnance company the last time I used the ones I had there and just made necessary changes as regards being on a different installation. The basic tenets and regulations and rules are the same everywhere.”

The Ammo manager was looking at one of the reference books Liz had put together years ago. He called the QASAS over to look at it. Liz was showing the general what had been the situation when she showed up that first day.

The Ammo manager and the QASAS looked what Liz considered her Bible over. It was a primer on how to run an ASP; the basic regulations to be used; the basic procedures that had to be followed and what was done at an ASP and why.  
“Major Parker, this reference here.”

“Yes Sir, that is something I put together over a period of years while a 89B after talking to some different QASAS and basing the needs on my experiences at a ASP.”

“Would it be possible to have a copy made of this?”

Liz went to a box on the floor and pulled out several similar binders.  
“I had a batch of copies made. How many do you need?”

The general observed this and smiled.  
After leaving the ASP the Team had a meeting to discuss their report.

The General started it off.  
“Gentlemen, I think our report can be fairly concise. Major Parker’s suggestions and comments are so much to the point that I frankly do not feel that we have must of importance to add. Is there any disagreement?”

One by one they all shook their heads. The Senior QASAS mused  
“I have rarely seen an Ammunition mission so efficiently organized. Her remarks about when was the last time any of us actually worked in one was brutal, but honest and to the point. We visit, look around at carefully staged operations if they even do any, and then leave and they go back to work as they normally do. She is absolutely correct that that kind of inspection is really of very little worth. And what she considers her bible for ASP operations is the best compilation and guide that I have seen anywhere. I would recommend that it be gone over and then used as just that.”

The SECDEF read the report and smiled slightly. This would be interesting when the various organizations that prided themselves on doing inspections read it.

The Division commander looked at his G4.  
“So she basically called them stuffed shirts that would not know a real ASP if they fell over one?”

“Pretty much, sir. Not quite that blunt but not far off. What is astonishing is that they accepted it like schoolboys being chewed out by their teacher.”

“Which in all honesty is exactly what happened.”

“Yes sir. They took copies of her ‘bible’ and if the Senior QASAS has his way, is going to become truly the ASP bible for ASP’s everywhere.”

The General was pensive. “He told me that while he would not ask for my resignation, this would be my last position.”

“The Base Commander and I were pretty much told the same thing. The Base Security Chief has put in his retirement papers. Have not heard what the story is with 5th Group.”

“SF might be a little more forgiving, but I wonder how hard the SECDEF will push on this?”


	13. Major Changes

At the end of August Liz requested release from her TDY to leave for the 160th SOAR and it was granted. By this time, she was just beginning to show; on her petite figure it was more obvious than those of more ample proportions.

Colonel Ballard welcomed her to his office and she sat down on the chair indicated.  
“Well, Major, it is a shame in one respect that you had to clean up that mess as you could have gotten a fair amount of what you will need to learn out of the way. But what is is. You can still do a goodly portion before you are unable to do anything but sit behind a desk. I have talked with our Medical Personnel and they have recommended what you can do till after you have your baby. You can observe a lot; and read up on our documents and manuals. Also you can visit the area where they are starting to test the new models. The first production versions came out last month; 6 months behind schedule.”

“I would like that sir. I would also if it is possible to visit the plants making them; I think I could get a better feel for the differences if I did that.”

“The assembly area would be good for that; you can see all the various parts as well as units in the process.”

“Yes sir.”

“I think it would not come to you as any surprise that you are being considered for the command of our first Battalion.”

“Yes sir. The bad thing about that, sir, is that I would not get all that much chance to fly.”

“You might be surprised at how much our battalion commanders fly here in the 160th. But you do have a point. I think Battalion XO would be a better use of your talents. Your record as a company commander was superb and we would be fools not to make use of it. You would retain command of a company while XO.”

“That would be very good sir. I want to be able to fly them a lot; they will be very different than regular Apache’s and I need to understand those differences.”

“An excellent idea. If I may, what is your due date?”

“December 26, sir.”

“Well that is good. We do not believe our first company will be fully equipped until November at the earliest. Personally I think January or February is more likely. How much time will you be requesting off for maternity leave?’

“I intend to work right up to Labor, sir. After that, probably 4-6 weeks.”

“Speaking as a father that is probably about right. Of course that is as a father. My wife might have something different to say.”

“Sir, it will be hard enough to leave my baby and come to my mission. No point in drawing it out. Max has already decided to take a leave of absence starting at birth and going for 2 months. After that we will have to use day care. Not happy about it but that is the way it is.”

“Well that will work fine for us. Command has been aware that it would take some time to get the new units up and running.”

“Sir, I have been able to talk to some of the pilots of the Little Birds. I got a feel of their operations some while in Afghanistan. They are going to have to change if they want to use Apache’s, even the new ones, efficiently. There is no way you can do some of the things Little Birds can do with even a very much improved Apache. It is just too big and too heavy. And I would recommend as part of the training program that if possible any pilots transitioning to the new Apache’s from Little Birds fly and qualify with regular apache’s first. It is a hunch more than anything else but I think a number of them will have a hard time doing so.”

The Commander considered this. He had not flown Little Birds very much and had never flown an Apache. So he really could not say from his own experience how valid her concern might be.  
“Well, for the moment you can still fly. I would suggest you get some time in Little Birds to make sure what you suspect is true.”

“Always happy to fly, Sir.”

Liz had been able to sneak some flight time in on Apache’s here and there; enough to keep current. So a chance to fly something different; small and agile was not to be passed up. She was taken to the field by one of the pilots, WO3 Sam Drake, and introduced to the very small helicopter. It had stubby wings on the side where a 4 missile pod of Hellfire’s or a 7 shot pod of 2.75 could be mounted; also a minigun or even a 30MM could be mounted as well. Used too much larger helicopters, Liz liked the Little Bird. Sam took her up and they tooled around the area; Liz after a while taking the stick.

To call it agile was to say the Pacific Ocean is deep. Comparing them was like comparing a go kart to a sports car. The Sports car is much bigger and faster; but the go kart can do things a sports car could not dream of.

When they landed, she smiled at Sam.  
“Now that is a fun bird to fly.”

He agreed. “I have never flown an Apache; but I can guess it is a huge difference.”

“It is.” She gave him the analogy she had come up with and he nodded.

“So these Super Apache’s that are coming, will be like the regular apache except souped up?”

“That is what the specs say. Lighter but more powerful; even more sophisticated avionics. Stronger and tougher and better protected. But it will be hugely different from this.”

When she went back to see the Commander, he immediately noticed she was concerned.  
“Were your suspicions correct?”

“I believe so. It is so agile and sensitive; absolutely nothing like a regular Apache. The Apache is a sports car and the Little Bird is a go kart. That would make it a little tough to transition from the Little Bird to a super Apache. So I really think that those that will be making the change need to get time on a regular Apache.”

He nodded. “Well here is your first assignment: write up a training plan for going from a Little Bird to an Apache to a Super Apache. And also work on one for going from a Blackhawk to a super Apache. Get familiar with the various ones we have here.”

“I would like to see the assembly plant first. And what about a simulator?”

“We hope to get a simulator for it about the same time the actual birds come.”

It took a week to get authorization for Liz to see the assembly plant; it was at Groom Lake. Which was VERY secretive at the best of times.

“OK, people we have a visitor coming to see what we are doing. A Major Elizabeth Parker from 160th SOAR. I guess they want to look at what they are getting. Probably pissed off that we have slipped 6 months on delivery.”

“Like it’s our fault that factory screwed up and used the wrong drawing?”

“We are the final stop so we get the grief. Goes with the territory, man.”

“So we have to make nice for some broad that got her rank from screwing someone?” Came from a young worker leaning back in his chair with his feet up.

One other worker, older, walked up to him and kicked his chair over. With a yelp he fell to the floor. The older worker stood over him.  
“Insult her again and I will break your legs.”  
Then he walked out of the room. The kid on the floor was stunned.  
“What the hell was that about?”

One other worker smirked at him.  
“She blew away a Taliban that was about to shoot a RPG into the chopper his kid brother was on. That answer your question, stupid?”

Another man was following the older worker as he went outside.  
“Come on, Zack, the kid was just being a kid.”

“I know, but if not for her they would have been picking up pieces of my kid brother with a tweezer. He told me that was the one time in the whole tour he was scared shitless. He saw it coming; was sure he was dead; then the turkey blew into pieces when she put a 30MM HE round into him. That dink is lucky my brother wasn’t here; he would already have the broken legs.”

The whole situation going to Groom Lake was amusing to Liz. First a security briefing about how you do not ask questions and do not do this and do not do that. Then being flown into the base in a plane with blacked out windows. It lands and taxis to a hanger. Then you are put on a bus with blacked out windows. Finally you get out of the bus and go into a building and get another security briefing. Finally she was taken into the work area where they were assembling the new Apache’s. The building is huge and filled with parts; but only a relatively small work crew is there. About 10-12 men. Liz is taken around to see various ones at different stages of assembly. As exhibits they have some structural parts alongside some parts from regular Apache’s. Picking them up the difference in weight was huge. The briefer smiled at the look on Liz’s face as she then looked at the Titanium part vs the steel part.  
“These parts are made by a new process only recently discovered. It is a titanium alloy with parts of other materials that is classified so highly that I imagine only a few people anywhere know it. It is not just a new alloy of titanium, but the actual manufacture process is different. The highest grades of steel were in certain alloys still a good bit stronger than titanium. But this titanium surpasses all known steel alloys. 2000 lbs of weight is saved using it on the main structural members of the frame and body. It is 20% stronger than any steel; and 60% stronger than the original Apache. Yet its weight is even less than normal titanium alloys used today. And it is also more flexible which means the structure will last longer due to much less metal fatigue.”

Looking at the cockpit area, he pointed to the areas where the improved Kevlar armor would better protect the pilot and copilot. Then to the wings which for the first time would be fully integrated with the flight control system; unless locked out for weapon use. Liz noticed that the wings were different as well. The briefer nodded at her question.  
“New launch pods for both the 2.75 and the Hellfire have also been designed. They will be rectangular not round for the 2.75 or square for the Hellfire. And for the 2.75 will give you 21 rockets instead of 19. Now this would look like a problem as that spreads them out under the wing. The difference is that the pods will go on top of the wing while the new flatter design auxiliary tanks will go under the wing. And there will be a gap that allows airflow over and under the wings that will give you lift. The wings will be capable of a much greater range of movement; which will allow you to shoot at a 60 degree angle, up or down. That will allow shooting 2.75 rockets at a higher altitude. Or dropping down and shooting them up. More flexibility. You will be able to carry four auxiliary tanks and 4 pods at the same time. Once again made possible by the significantly stronger yet lighter alloys in the wing. But you can use the old pods as well; the fixtures will be there if needed. The rocket and hellfire pods can be attached to the top of the wing or the bottom; and if you choose you can double your weapon load and have 8 pods; 4 on top and 4 on bottom.” 

Then he showed her the engines; or mockups anyway.   
“They are even more powerful version of the current Rolls Royce engines on the Weyland Apache’s. And the system allows the use of all that power. They should also last longer and be less maintenance intensive.”

Then they came to the Fenestron Rotor fan for the tail.  
“Once again the new alloys at work. This rotor will be lighter but stronger; and the electric motor will give you more thrust then the mechanical one now used. The tail assembly is as you see much thinner. Armored conduit and two separate cables to power the motor makes this a much more damage resistant area.”

Then to the landing gear.  
“They will fully retract in flight to rest against the belly of the aircraft; lessening wind resistance. In an emergency they have come up with a CO2 powered cartridge that deploy the gear if the rest of the system is out.”

“One of the great complaints over the years was the chin guns jamming due to being exposed to the elements, though various things tried have helped alleviate that problem. They have worked on and have come up with a way to enclose the gun in a fiberglass casing that will give it a greatly increased amount of protection from dust and sand.”

Then he showed her the avionics board for the pilot and copilot.  
“This is very different than the current Apache; we had several apache pilots advising on this so as to make it simpler and easier to work with. You will have full infrared spectrum capability that can be adjusted for what you need and will work to compensate for the temperature and conditions. That should make night work much easier; you will have the feed available to you on a screen on the board or it can be fed to your helmet and you can view it on your visor.”

And a few other things.  
“Your ECM and ECCM is much improved; and you will have automatic chaff and flare dispensers as missile defense; that system is what is just about to be installed on the F-22 so it is the best there is; the threat computer will identify the threat and automatically dispense them as needed. Your Sidewinders will be tied into the weapon system so as to give you the same anti air capability as any current fighter has. Furthermore you can also carry the AMRAAM as well.”

After all this Liz was a little limp as she made her trip back. This really would be a Super Apache; in some respects able to survive an anti-aircraft envelope that up to now only fighters could. She knew that SF operations and thus the 160th SOAR would now and then be in a situation where you would have to worry about that. The weapons capability was also increased; and the capability of the wings to give lift and direction would also make a big difference.

The briefer had really been proud of the new aircraft and for all intents and purposes it would be. Actually very little of the old apache would be in this model. Liz found herself really eager to fly her.

“Well, what does it look like?”

“It is not as great, but in some respects it is like comparing a car made in the 1970’s to one made now. It seems as advanced; which makes sense as the original Apache was designed in the 70’s. They are putting in systems and features only just built. If it all works, this will be a huge improvement over the Apache in every way. We will be able to carry twice the weapons load; and also have auxiliary tanks and still carry a regular weapons load. No more having to mix and match and compromise for long range missions. He did say that the air refueling system will be different than what is used on the Black Hawk but he did not know what it was.”

Colonel Ballard blinked at all this; Liz was certainly glowing with enthusiasm; making her look years younger than 28. 

“So does that change your idea about having Little Bird pilots go to the standard Apache first?”

“Actually it emphasizes it. This will be even more complicated to learn and fly; even if they have made some improvements to the cockpit to simplify some things. So going to a Longbow Apache first I would consider an absolute requirement.”

“So do you think they will make their new schedule?”

“Not a chance.”

Now that surprised him.  
“I was told last week that they would.”

“BS. They have yet to complete one yet. From what I could see, maybe in a week or two the first one will be done. It will go faster after that as they get more familiar with it; the parts are there. One of the problems is that a couple of components have been delayed for various reasons. And unfortunately they are ones that prevent them from going much farther than half way. I saw about 6 that were in that stage. I am pretty sure they got the final components only a week or so ago. They did not say anything but I have eyes.”

“I was told they had several already completed.”

“I really doubt it unless they have moved them out of the building which I guess is possible. But everything I saw indicated otherwise. Now I think by the end of the month they could have several nearly done. And more next month; but then it will slow down again. I am willing to bet they will not have a full company done until December at the earliest; and then they have to be test flown and checked out and that will probably take a couple of weeks for each one. I would say that they will not send us a company until March or April; maybe later.” 

He sighed. “Well, nothing we can do about it. So you might as well get started on that training plan.”

And she did. After looking at the standard training program for SOAR pilots and copilots, she began to cobble together one that would take a Little Bird or Black Hawk pilot from their current chopper to a regular Apache then to the Super Apache. By necessity it had to be vague as regards the Super Apache as she had not flown one yet nor even sat in a finished one’s cockpit. She made it a point to talk to the pilots of both aircraft and then showed them her rough drafts. They had suggestions about some of the steps as regards the Little Birds and Blackhawk. Liz talked to them about the Apache; only the Blackhawk pilots had dealt with anything that sophisticated and even then it was very different than the Apache’s. Liz talked them into letting her ride in a couple Blackhawks as Copilot so she could get a feel of the cockpit; it was very advanced and very interesting. Their descriptions of various missions showed they needed every bit of it to get it done. She was rather surprised that none of them had come from Apache’s; a couple had cadged rides in one but that was all. And those had flown A models, not the much more advanced Longbows.

One thing Liz saw clearly is that 160th SOAR pilots considered anything normal as boring. One of the reasons, of course, that they had gone to the 160th. That made Liz wonder how they flew on missions. She did not think they flew wild or crazy or careless, but she did wonder. 

Liz looked at the current training programs and found they were really vague. After talking to the others she found that was standard. New pilots were taken in hand by old pilots and taught the ropes personally and apparently as they saw fit. Liz did not think much of this idea and thus made certain that her training plan was a lot more specific. She realized that flexibility was the keyword for the 160th; no argument for a unit that did a lot of very bizarre and different missions. But they should come in trained on normal and standard flying, then adjust and adapt from there. They needed a base to start from. She did not doubt that anyone coming in was already experienced, but that did not mean they were doing it right. She was not surprised when Colonel Ballard appointed her as training officer for the new Apache companies. She thought back to that meeting.

“You know Apache’s and how to fight them well. So we need to start there. As the only one in the unit that has flown them in combat, you need to write the parameters. I understand no one really knows what you can do with the Super Apache’s, but at least you have good knowledge of what can be done with a regular one. That will be the baseline until we have experience with the new bird. This is going to be a real learning experience for all of us. Mistakes will be made but as long as we learn from them we will get to where we need to be.” 

Liz steadily worked through the next month on the plans; it was going to be a fairly complicated transition.

The beginning of September Liz was saddened but not surprised to be told that the 5th Group Commander and his G4 and his chief of security would be retiring. She met Major Fresnel by chance and found that he was acting Base Security Commander; a new one would be coming in soon. Liz nodded sadly.  
“Your comment about everyone needing new jobs is coming true.”

“I was getting out next year anyway; so for me it’s not too bad. Bottom line is that we all screwed the pooch; that should not have happened and would not have happened if we had been doing our jobs right. There were all sorts of warning signs that we ignored or missed.”

That night Liz was curled up with Max after Aliya had gone to bed.  
“In a couple of months almost all of the people that were in those meetings about the ASP’s will be retired or on their way out. They will let the General and the Division G4 serve out the rest of the year and they will be gone as well.”

“Honey, maybe they really did not make too many mistakes but in the end if you are in a situation like they were in and missed what had to be several warning signs that each of them should have seen, then it is not unfair of them to pay for it.”

“True. Still it is depressing.”

“I am still amazed that they have been able to keep this out of the media.”

“The four of them pleaded guilty so no court martial. They are doing time at Leavenworth. No one wants it to get out about the SA-14’s. I would not be surprised if they got reduced sentences by agreeing to keep quiet. The number of people that actually knew about the SA-14’s was pretty small. So maybe it is not that big of a surprise.”

A couple of local reporters had heard rumors about trouble at the ASP’s, but when told that Major Parker was cleaning up the mess as she had done years ago and not hearing anything more, had dropped the story. It was not big news even if Major Parker usually meant big news.

By the end of September Liz had about done the training plan; and the 160th Commander had her then go over and redo all the training plans for all the different types of helicopters. Then look at all the SOP’s and procedures for all aviation operations of the 160th SOAR. Liz realized that this was to keep her busy but still it was a lot. And Liz did think it needed to be done; she had talked to the Group commander on that.

“Sir, do you have a minute?”

“Certainly Major.”

“Sir since you assigned me the task of reviewing all aviation procedures in the group I have gone over all of them and I need to get a decision from you.”

“What is it?”

“Maybe I am over reacting somewhat; I am new to Special Ops. But I happen to think that most of them are too vague and too loose. I understand that improvisation and flexibility is vital to Special Ops; but I think more needs to go into them. I believe before you can throw the book away you need to read it first. Understand the standard ways things are done before you start working on bending them every which way.” 

He grinned. “Why do you think I gave this assignment to you? Just to keep you busy until after the baby comes? I have been of that mind ever since I took command last year, but I do not have the time to do it and frankly there is no one in the group that can do it well. I think you can.”

Liz blinked. “Oh. Yes Sir.”

He grinned again. “Really was not expecting that, were you.”

“No sir. So I guess I dive right back in.”

“I would like them done before you go on maternity leave.”

“Yes sir.” 

As October began, Liz finally began to noticeably show. Then on her small figure it did not take much. Though she was as of yet the only woman pilot, there were other women in 160th SOAR. Maintenance and staff positions, though others would be opening. She was surprised that they seemed in awe of her, but as she became noticeably pregnant they seemed to finally realize that she was a woman just like them. And that broke the ice. Liz began to eat lunch with them, and talk more with them. Which was good as Liz felt the need to have women around her as her pregnancy progressed. Men were just too uncomfortable with her.

After a few weeks, Liz decided to broach the subject.  
“Guys, were you really intimidated by me when I first got here? Because it seemed that way.”

Janice, a crew chief for Black Hawk, laughed.  
“Liz, of course we were. You seem to have a hard time realizing that you are one of the most famous women in the world.”

“Oh, come on, that is a little much.”

Delta, a maintenance tech, shook her head.  
“Liz, you have a page on Wikipedia. There are websites about you. Just last month you got on the list of 25 most admired American women.”

Liz’s mouth dropped open.  
“Really?”

All the women there laughed.

Janice grinned.  
“Liz we all like you because you really do not believe all the press that was written about you. Or take it seriously. Which is a big difference from most celebrities; even some of our more famous SF types. Frankly I consider you a true Hero. As we all do. And yes we were intimidated by you when you first came. Until we got to know you. Now you are just one of the guys to us. But we know what you have done; and think it is great you are here with us now.”

November was when the Crew decided to get married; all three of them at once. To say it was a fairly big deal was an understatement. It was held in town at a large church; and Liz was Matron of Honor for all three. She was glad the dress was such that her pregnancy was not made more obvious. It was a lovely ceremony and also a lot of fun with three bouquets and three garters to throw.

The whole division had relaxed when it was disclosed that they would not deploy again for at least another 2 years. With the demands in Iraq all but gone, or at least greatly curtailed, Afghanistan was the only real hot war and it had subsided some to a more simmering nature. With the need down, it was decided that units would deploy as a division once every three years. Now demands for SF and Special Ops were about the same; they were carrying more of the fight in Afghanistan now. Regular units were more into force protection and garrison duty. Ruth was very happy that Joe had got recruiting duty and gotten in locally so they did not have to move. Susan and Becky were also much more relaxed with the extra time and reduced threat. Liz was happy that all her friends there would be around for a good while longer.

December came in as Liz was finally finishing re writing just about everything in the 160th SOAR but how to clean the toilets. At least that was how she felt. As she was beginning her 8th month, it was starting to get difficult to move around. Liz had been very careful to try and keep any hormone induced irascibility to a minimum, locking her office door when she started to feel one coming on. The Commander had put out the word that she was not to be bothered when her door was locked unless it was a critical need. He well remembered what his wife had gotten like at that stage of her pregnancy.

Max had been on the end of her temper a few times and had learned how to fade into the woodwork; for some reason Aliya had the least amount of trouble with Liz. Liz explained it to Max this way  
“She just always makes me feel better when I see her.”

Aliya was fascinated by the whole process and yet managed to not bother Liz too much. She was happy when Nancy took time off from work and came to stay with Liz on the 15th of December until at least a couple of weeks after the birth. Nancy and Liz and Aliya spent a lot of time just bonding and talking. 

The last week before Christmas Liz was so big that she really found it hard to move around much at all. The Commander finally put his foot down and on the 21st told her to go and not come back.

So Liz began to vegetate as she put it. Unable to get up from a sofa or easy chair without help, it finally began to get to her. Aliya was home for Christmas break and Nancy was there as well. They worked hard to keep her occupied but it was not easy. Christmas day came and Liz was very happy to be able to spend it with her family; but just after noon she began to get cramps. And they persisted. Liz had had a few Braxton-Hicks contractions, but nothing like this. She began to think she was starting labor at around 6 PM. But she managed to hide it from everyone and went to bed at 9 PM. Max had dozed off quickly and she tried but was only able to nap. Luckily they had set the bed up so that she only had to roll off to get up; toilet breaks were fairly common. She was timing the contractions -she knew that is what they were- at 30 minutes apart by 3 AM. She had quietly left the bed to sit in a special chair Max had fixed up in the large master bathroom; the only one in the house that Liz did not need help to get out of.

Max woke up and looked at the clock; it said 5 AM. He noticed Liz was not in bed; he got up and went into the bath room where Liz was sitting in the chair, dozing, it looked like. Then she jerked up and groaned softly, holding her stomach. He went to her.  
“Liz, are you OK?”

Liz sighed as the pain eased. “What time is it?”

“Just after 5.”

Liz decided he needed to be told. “I am in labor. The pains are now 20 minutes apart. But my water has not broken.”

“Liz, why didn’t you tell me?”

“No point. And at least you got one last good night’s sleep. That will not happen for a while.”

“I am getting dressed and taking you to the hospital!”

Liz smiled at his semi panic. She had been worried but now strangely she felt calm. She just sat there as Max scrambled around; first getting dressed then waking up Nancy. Who told him to get a grip and calm down. After 15 minutes he came in and asked her what she wanted done.  
“Get my bag. After my next contraction I will put something on and we will go.”

Not very long after that another contraction hit and thankfully her water broke. That seemed to panic Max again so Liz sent him out and asked him to bring her mother in.

Nancy was totally unsurprised at how calm Liz was and how rattled Max was. Just seemed natural.  
“Honey, how are you doing?”

“OK, mom, outside of thinking we need to bind and gag Max.” 

Nancy had to laugh at that.  
“We need him to drive the car so there you are.”

Liz thought about that for a moment and reluctantly nodded.  
“I guess. Help me get something on and changed and clean this up.”

At this time Aliya poked her head in.  
“Momma, is the baby coming?”  
“Yes it is honey. Max and I will be going to the hospital; Mom will stay with you. This is not going to happen soon; it might take the rest of the day.”

And it just about did; James Alexander Evans was born at 445 in the afternoon. At 7lbs, 8 oz he was a pretty big baby.

Liz lay there, exhausted but very happy as she held her son and let him nurse for the first time. Max sat and stared in awe as his wife and child.

The next morning, the Crew and Posse showed up followed by the girls from the 160th. It was a constant stream all day. Liz and James went home that afternoon. 

A new baby is exhausting as Liz and Max found out. But Nancy was able to stay for 2 weeks and that helped immensely. Maria, Tess, Isabelle came by for a few days each the week after and that helped as well. Finally it was just Max, Liz, James and Aliya. Fortunately after 3 weeks, James started sleeping more than an hour or so and had gotten up to two hours and sometimes three. So the pace slowed down to the point where Liz and Max were able to cope with the help of Aliya, who proved to be a natural at calming James down. Max had to go back to work after 4 weeks, so it became just Liz and James. Which Liz did not mind at all. Her son was a wonder to her.

After 6 weeks Liz had gotten herself back in shape after working very hard at it. The last two weeks she took James with her to work out at the gym; getting him used to other people and places. On the 12th of February Liz took James to day care and then went to work; it was a lot harder than she thought it would be.  
She asked the commander about immediately scheduling her necessary training before she could start flying. And he did. The SERE came first; and that would be tough; he wanted her to have another month to get ready for that. There were some other things she could do before that. Then after the SERE would come the Officers Green Platoon which would last 3 weeks. Then came the orientation training with the Little Birds. For Liz some of the normal courses were cut out because she had already done them; such as the Night Vision training; and some of the other Aviation training. She was looking at about 16-18 weeks of training.

Liz had thought she was used to some tough times; but she was wrong; the aviation orientation not for the little bird was what she got done before SERE; that was tough.

This SERE was a lot tougher than the last one. But she gritted her teeth and made it through. But the Green Platoon for Officers was even worse; physically by far the most demanding she had ever even imagined. She dragged herself to her bunk and somehow managed to drag herself out. Day after day. She learned how to knife fight; how to disarm and disable and kill hand to hand at a level far beyond what she had learned years ago. How to survive and make weapons and eat things that would have made her throw up before this. 

Then came the course in orientation for the Little Bird; this was heaven after hell for Liz. Even if it meant traveling to several different states for different terrain navigation and the like. The over water part was new; that was the hardest part but it was still flying and that meant everything.

12 weeks after starting it, on the 1st of June, Liz had completed all the training except for aircraft type. In other words the Super Apache.

The one really bad thing was how much time away from home she had been spending. Sometimes several weeks would go by before she could see Max and her family. She was just lucky that James was still too young to really notice. Even at 6 months.

More delays had come and finally the Super Apache’s began to arrive late in May. Since no one had used Apache’s in the 160th before, this was all new. And none of the pilots or copilots except Liz had flown one before except at Aviation school. So no one had real experience.

After a week’s leave to get to know her family again, Liz came back and was watching as the contractor signed over the first 8 Super Apache’s. And as senior officer of the new Battalion present, she signed for them. Her Battalion Commander, Jack Del Rio, was taking care of business at the plant by raising hell about the rate of production. Jack, a pretty caustic guy and veteran 160th officer, had made it plain that she would be the one doing most of the heavy lifting as regards flight operations. Which suited Liz fine.

She looked at the other pilots and copilots; only 4 of them were officers, all 2nd Lts fresh out of flight school and OCS. All the other copilots were WO2. The other pilots were WO3. All were experienced pilots but none in attack; all were veterans of Blackhawks. Right now they had twice as many as they had birds. And the ground crews, fresh from their own orientation training in the new super Apache’s, were itching to get their hands dirty. So she talked to them.

“OK, People here is the deal. We will not be getting the next 8 birds for another couple of months. So we will be all sharing these 8. I will make sure that everyone gets the same amount of flight time. Now I am the only one here with operational experience on the Longbow; though all of you have had time in training flying them. I am pulling rank and flying her first. Then we will start slow and figure out what the differences are. Ground crews will also switch off to gain experience. Company A starts things out of course; B Company will be formerly stood up as soon as the next 8 show up. So for the time being we will just have a very large company A.”

Liz had chosen her copilot; she had gotten all of them together and had them get to know each other and then see if they could match up. It had seemed to work OK. Her copilot was WO2 Doug Sanders, a 27 year old who had joined up as a grunt at 18 and then at 23 had gone to WO school then aviation. He had done one tour in Iraq as a Blackhawk pilot then had come here. He had taken the downgrade to Copilot to fly the new bird. Liz was hoping to bump him up to pilot when the last company stood up in about 6-8 months. He was a quiet type, but when he spoke it meant something. He was also good. Liz had managed to work a deal with the 101st and they had let her fly their apache’s and get the others some time on them while waiting for the new ones to arrive.

The Simulator program had had a lot of bugs and they had only gotten it working in the last month. So Liz took Doug and they got into the super bird.

The cockpit was a lot different than a Longbow, but better in Liz’s mind. Simpler and less confusing. She cranked it up and after a few minutes of checking everything, took off. Right away she noticed the increased responsiveness and the extra power and less weight. They spent over an hour flying and trying her out; both of them. Then they landed.

Everyone gathered together to hear it from one of their own.  
“It really is a hot bird; take a regular longbow and make it faster, quicker and lighter. You notice all of that as soon as you lift off.”

She continued for a while then had Doug talk as well, orientating towards the copilots. Then one by one they all got a ride. Liz had scheduled the first couple of days as joy riding time so that the pilots could get a feel of the new bird.

There had been discussion about bringing one of the test pilots to teach but Liz had argued against it.

“We all learn together. That way no one has a real edge. Everyone is equal.”

The training plan Liz had come up with took it slow; she did not want to push anyone hard on this. The Super Apache was a very hot ship and she did not want hot rodding.

One of the things that would be new for Liz was the capability of in-flight refueling. The Pave Lows and other larger helicopters had had that capability for a long time. But no Apache had ever had it. This one had the tube located on the belly and it would telescope out 10 feet. Which was different than usual; the other helicopters had a fixed refuel probe. Liz was firm that the crews would have a fair amount of time to get used to the craft before any refueling was attempted.

The first month they took baby steps; then slowly began to do more. They began to maneuver and start to find the limits of what they could do. Liz had everyone at the end of the day come in and talk about what they did and how it seemed to work. Then they began to night fly; and started to work at that. After two months, the beginning of August, Liz told the commander that they were now ready to try the refueling operation.

That was interesting; the AF had specialized C-130 Hercules that had been modified; very extensively modified to MC-130P and more. They were the choice for refueling Helicopters since the low speed of helicopters made any jet a bad risk since the stall speed of regular tankers was too close to the top speed of a helicopter.

The first time Liz tried it, it was a tense situation. There was some turbulence; they were at 8,000 feet at 70% throttle, going about 140 knots. They had found that the top speed of a Super Apache was right at 210 MPH; around 30 MPH faster than a regular Apache. Liz was focusing on the drogue as she maneuvered towards it; the refueling probe telescoped out and she put it right in on the first try; connected and held it for 5 minutes then disengaged and maneuvered away. All these attempts were dry runs; they would each do 10 dry runs before the real thing. This took the 16 pilots 2 days.

The second group of pilots and copilots came during the second month of training. Liz had modified the training program in some areas, finding that she had been cautious and speeded it up.

The first time Liz actually refueled was something to remember; she had run her Super Apache down to 30% and then refueled and the difference was noticeable; that extra weight had to be compensated for. Flying a suddenly much heavier ship required you to adjust in ways not before experienced. She estimated that in a few minutes the aircraft was over 2000 lbs heavier; which was about 10% of its total weight. She wrote that down in her notes to make sure the others would be ready for it. 

The second group of pilots would bring up the strength of the battalion to its TOE limit; and getting them going took more time. She was very busy; especially considering that the Battalion had so few officers compared to the Battalion she was used to. SPEC OP units traditionally were smaller; fewer staff weenies. But those weenies came in handy to take care of paperwork that flourished in every military unit. Outside of Jack, there was no other officer in the Battalion higher than a captain, and he ran the support company. As a matter of fact he was the only captain in the battalion. Of the 24 pilots, she was by far the most senior; the only major, no captains, and only 6 Lts, 4 of them 2nd Lts. She had had an interesting discussion with Colonel Ballard and Jack about this.

“You know army regulations require commissioned officers above warrants for some of these duties; yet I hate to burden my pilots with so much of this crap.”

Liz was letting off a little steam and both Colonel Ballard and Jack were very amused.  
“I am tempted to just toss them and if someone asks I will say that the officer responsible was transferred and has not been replaced. I can probably get away with that for a couple of years at least.”

At that Jack handed the Colonel a $20 bill. The Colonel grinned at Liz.  
“Just won me $20, Liz. I bet you would say that before the end of the second month; he thought it would be the third.”

Liz crossed her arms and glared at them.  
“I am glad someone is getting some amusement out of all this.”

Still grinning, Colonel Ballard spoke.  
“Don’t worry about it Liz. I know you try real hard to get it done; if it is not done do not let it bother you. They do not try and enforce it with Special Operations because they never get any support from higher command.”

Getting a little more serious, he asked about the status.  
“Another month and the first Company will be operational; two months for the second company now that all their birds are here and accepted. The third company – who knows when they get all their Choppers. Probably not until next year.”

The colonel nodded. “That is good because we will have need of them by the end of the year.”

That got Liz’s attention. “Deployment or TDY?”  
Spec Ops quite often would do a 2-3 month TDY a couple times a year without a full deployment.

“Since no one knows how things will go, almost certainly TDY the first time or two. The longer range, avionics capability, and fire power of the Super Apache is needed in Afghanistan on Special Operations. And elsewhere.”

Liz understood what that last part meant. It was becoming clear that large numbers of the Taliban’s leadership as well as Al Qaeda were hiding in the border areas of Pakistan. The Pakistani government was weak and unable to control that area; the Army was reluctant to get involved and the ISI played both sides against the middle. It was something that Liz had heard about; the idea was growing that the SF was going to have to start playing hardball there. Which meant that longer range escort craft would be needed. And the possibility that they might have to defend themselves against Pakistani protectors of various areas. She also knew that the limitations of the Little Birds and Black Hawk combat versions were the major reasons behind the Super Apache. 

“So they want to go as soon as we have two operational companies.”

“Correct. They figure only one is needed at the moment so you can switch them out every few months, reducing the strain on personnel.”

“So looking at deploying say in November through January or February?”

“That is what they would like.”

“A Company could deploy now if they had to, B Company by October.”

“They want to make the move when it gets cold in Northern Afghanistan and the Taliban hole up; they are easier to find.”

Liz sat and thought. Then she looked at them.  
“C Company can finish training using B Company’s ships. So when do they want us to leave?”

“End of October, beginning of November. They want to be operational by mid-November. I think 90 days will be about right; then B Company can replace A in January or early February. Then C Company can replace them in May. If they still want you there. This in some ways will be a test to see just how useful the Super Apache will be.”

Jack nodded. “There are quite a few that think we spent too much for the difference between Longbows and the new birds. That we should have just gotten Longbows. Maybe modified with new avionics and refuelable. So this will be important.”

Liz was quietly talking with Max that night. Holding James as he slept.  
“It will be hard to leave; but three months is not bad. And as long as things do not heat up more we can send one Company at a time. The other Battalion will not be up and running for almost a year. And I have been pretty much told the success of the first couple of deployments might decide whether they will even build the next 24.”

“3 months is a lot better than 12. And you are getting the feeling that you will not be as busy as you were before?’

“Pretty much a given. The Super Apache is their Sunday punch; not going to waste it doing stuff Little Birds are good at. Frankly a lot of the missions we did could have been done by the Kiowa’s. But everyone got warm fuzzes having Apache’s that we got more calls than we really should have.”

“Liz, face the fact that the reason everyone wanted Apache’s was that you guys were that good. A Company especially but B Company from what I heard was pretty good as well. Only C Company was not but even they did fairly well.”

“One thing I need to push with Jack and Colonel Ballard is that we need to get at least one more senior officer, at least a captain and hopefully a major, in the battalion. Because when B Company replaces A company, they will need someone other than a 1st Lt there.”

“You thinking that they might keep you there even after A Company goes home?”

“It is a possibility.”

Liz took that up with them a few days later.  
“I know you do not like staff weenies and neither do I, but we need some more officers here. What happens when I leave with A Company and B Company with only a 1st LT as senior officer?”

Colonel Ballard nodded.  
“I know Liz, but the fact of the matter that finding aviation Captains and Majors wanting to come to SOAR is rare.”

“Then pull one out of the other battalions. They do not have to be Apache drivers.”

“We do not have that many, Liz, as you have noticed.”

“They got more than we do. So Share the Wealth.”

“Ok, OK. I will call around.”

A week later a Captain from a Black Hawk battalion was transferred in. He had been injured in a training accident and it would be some time before he was certified for flight status. So he could take command of B Company and free up Lt Hanson to actually fight it. Will Manson was his name and he was a character that Liz liked on sight.

Liz looked up from her desk as a tall Blonde captain walked in her office.  
“I am looking for Doberman.”

“You found her. What’s up?”

“I am Captain Will Manson and I just got shanghaied out of my nice comfortable nook and tossed into this mess of snarling vipers. All I was told was to find someone called Doberman.”

Liz cocked her head. Was he for real? She doubted that anyone had not heard her call signs and did not know it was her in the 160th.

“Well, Captain, I told them I needed a slave with railroad tracks and you got the short straw. I hope you like 28 hour days and 8 day weeks. If so then you will fit right in.”

Will then sat down and grinned at her.  
“What can I do to get transferred out of this chicken outfit?”

“Get elected President. Nothing else will work. Your ass is mine.”

“So what is the real story why I am here?”

“Actually the first response was not far off. We do not have enough officers in this battalion captain and above. You just raised the number by 33%.” 

“I will not be fully recovered for at least 3-4 months; probably 6. My elbow and arm need time to get back its full flexibility and time is the only thing that will work.”  
“You can sign your name, right?”

“Yeah.”

“That is all that is required.”

Will was to be a lot of fun in the weeks ahead. Openly questioning what he had done to get sentenced to this punishment detail. Liz kept it up by buying him a dog collar and chain and presenting it to him at a meeting one day. Of course he wore it. Liz then had a sign made up for his office that said ‘Doberman’s Bitch.’”


	14. Just get out the shovel, again

The countdown to deployment continued through the end of September and into October. Her company A was set; 2nd LT “Slinger” Harris was her second in command and 2nd Platoon commander; she had “Octopus” Johnson as her wingman; “Hammer” Clark , “Hannibal” Lector as the rest of her platoon; then Slinger had “Romeo” Jones as his wingman and “Chuckey” Smith, “Rhino” Wilson rounding out the company. She had gotten a crew chief almost as good as Grunt in Sam Steed, who was a veteran 160th crewman that had been the top graduate in his class as specializing in the Super Apache. The rest of the support staff was very good, in Liz’s somewhat biased view. 

One difference in the way that the new Super Apache’s would operate then the regular SOAR operated was that they tended to have small groups for most operations; Liz was determined to operate on any real serious mission with no less than a platoon. She worked Slinger extra hard to get him ready for command of the platoon without her around. As she had before, she shot all kinds of scenarios at the pilots and copilots, trying to make them think of how to handle the unexpected.

Liz managed to find some time off before going to get to Savanna and visit Maria and her friends there. It was a good few days. Despite their best efforts, the word had gotten out about the Super Apache’s; but the media was stymied in their requests for interviews. SF and the 160th tended to ignore them and they were allowed to by the higher command. So Liz had been able to ignore all requests for interviews. That did not prevent them from speculating.

It just so happened that the second day of the three days that Liz, Max, Aliya and James spent at Maria’s in Savanna they were watching the evening news. The 3rd ID had a brigade in Afghanistan so the local media had fairly extensive coverage of it. It was at the northern part, not far from Bagram where the Super Apache’s would be in a month or so. This is what came on that night.  
“In Channel 7’s continuing coverage of the 3rd Brigades tour in Northern Afghanistan, we came upon this bit of information. It is hard to get anything out of Special Forces or Special Operations Command. But we have heard this: an alumni, one of the most famous ones, of the 3rd ID will be making her third tour to Afghanistan soon as a Major commanding a company of New what are called Super Apache’s. Not much is known about them outside of the rumor that they have been seriously upgraded in all ways; hence the name Super Apache. But a lot is known about their commander, Major Elizabeth Parker. IT looks like Major Parker will be leading those Super Apache’s in their inaugural combat tour; the Major transferred from the 101st Aviation Brigade to the 160th SOAR, Special Operations private air force. It can be safely said that quite a few people will be happy with the Major’s return. Her Company A received the Presidential Unit Citation for having a full tour in which not one single allied soldier died while they were on the job escorting them. One hopes that Special Operations will not hog the Major’s talents and allow her to continue her record protecting our troops and taking down America’s enemies.”

Liz sighed. “Oh, jeeze why don’t they just say I can walk on water as well.” 

The others all laughed. Tess grinned. “That will be on your next commendation.”  
Isabelle agreed. “Give them time, Liz, they will think of it.”

Maria just shook her head. “That is the problem with getting a reputation; you have to continue to live up to it.” 

It was very hard to leave Max and Aliya and James; but she was able to console herself with the realization that it was not a year, only 3 months. What was unexpected was the last minute decision to ship 8 new Super Apache’s instead of taking the ones already broken in. Liz was not happy; but the company working them had put in some serious overtime to make up for the short falls and managed to convince the pentagon it was cheaper this way. The Idea was to leave that 8 there and just bring in the people; that way the unit could hit the ground running. Or so the theory went. Liz agreed with the part about leaving them there; she was just not happy to have unfumigated aircraft waiting for them.

They flew in on 15 November to Bagram. This time Liz had her own quarters; one of the improvements there. She would miss her friends but rightly figured she would not have much time for anything else anyway. And that was proven when only a week in she was asked when they could be combat ready. The second day there they had gotten their Apache’s up and flying. As she had feared, some bugs were found. But they turned out to be relatively minor.

So when on 22 November she was asked to fly a mission she agreed. Turned out they wanted to start things with a real bang. They were going to hit a village right on the border up in the foot of the mountains. It was about 150 miles from Bagram. 8 Black Hawks and Liz’s company would make the assault. The village was spread out so that was why the numbers. And it would be a night assault. This was not done much anymore as it had engendered lots of bad publicity. However this was thought to be a wholly Taliban village so it did not matter.

It had been found that with a full combat load and two auxiliary tanks, the Super Apache could make a strike at 150 miles and still have almost two hours of loiter time. A MC-130 tanker was on call if anyone needed more juice. The Black Hawks also had an auxiliary tank and would stay on the ground; a little distance from the village, guarded by one platoon while the other stayed over the target.

The new night vision goggles were a definite improvement, but it had been found that the gun sight tied into the sensors of the Super Apache was better by a good margin. So the pilots would be using that. The method would be for the copilot to take the stick at the target while the pilot used the gun sight for plinking of any Taliban found. 

The village would be hit from all four sides at once; overwhelming it. Liz partialed out her company at two to each side. She went with the mission commander coming in from the west. They would hit it at exactly midnight.

It was the Black Hawks that they had to slow down for; wide open they took an hour to make it to the village. There was no pause they went in and hit the village as fast as they could.

Liz looked through her gun site and could see people starting to run around as the Black Hawks landed and the SF surged into the village. Liz and the others began to pot shoot the figures they could see shooting at the SF.

It was surreal; the sites were so much better than the Longbows. But in a way it was bad; you could see the bodies come apart as the 30MM HE round exploded them. Liz turned off the feeling part of her brain and became a machine; she was Nemesis. One after another. Finally the SF was too close and she quit. Then sent Slinger and the 2nd Platoon to watch over the resting black hawks.

Meanwhile they stayed at 300 feet, watching as the SF moved quickly through the village. 

One difference with the 160th was that they did not send reserve black hawks; they did not load them to capacity. Though a MEDEVAC was with them.

Only 30 Minutes was needed before the word came in for extraction. Only minor wounds. And so the first mission was done.

Mission debriefs were a little different; if nothing unusual had happened or if no one had any comments it was over quickly.

There were the Direct Action Penetrators, the special version of the MH-60L, at Bagram as well. Liz met some of them and got the impression that they were not happy that Super Apaches were taking their place. Well that was their problem.

After that first mission they came thick and heavy for the next two weeks before bad weather shut things down. They were all night attacks; and all were successful to varying degrees. Liz considered it a successful mission if no one was killed. That was one record she was determined to keep. None was as big; so Liz split up the company and let Slinger take some on his own; he was developing nicely.

They were grounded for two days and Liz was grateful for the rest. Only one mission a night but they were more stressful than day missions. One big difference she had noted from the last time over 2 years ago that she had been there was that there was less action near Bagram; it was all farther away. Looking at how it was going on elsewhere it was clear the southern command had made good progress and it was under control there. Kandahar was much quieter than it had been. The Aviation unit at Bagram currently was a NG unit; and it did not have a very good reputation as regards the attack battalion. They were one of the last units flying AH-64A’s, and it showed. Their readiness was at 50%. Their Apaches were old and worn out. The light Attack battalion was good, and had been shouldering more of the load. Since the need was not as great as it had been, nothing was being done. Liz did not need a piano falling on her head to read the tea leaves; and neither did the Special Operations commander at Bagram, who had called her in the day after the first mission.  
“Major, I am willing to bet you have noticed a few things about the NG Aviation Brigade we have here.”

“If you mean the fact that the Apache Battalion is lucky to have half its craft flying at any one time, I have.”

“The Kiowa Warrior Battalion is quite good; and they have been able to make up the shortfall so far.”

“So far being the operative word.”

“There you have it in a nutshell.”

“How do we do this, sir?”

“If you are out on a mission and a request comes in you do what you can; otherwise I have to authorize it. Now mind you I will unless we have a serious mission in progress.”

“Understood sir.”

Liz quietly let her people know about this; they were not surprised either.  
Slinger was blunt: “It’s not just that their Apaches are old; their maintenance people are not all that either. And I have not heard good things about their leadership at all.”

The rest of them agreed. Hammer put the period on it “Major, we know why we are here. Whether it is supporting SF or someone else. Doesn’t really matter.”

This was a very good unit, Liz knew. Was it as good as her first Company A? She was not sure; but the difference was not that great.

A week later another situation came up. They had done a couple of small missions, nothing much. Then a big one came up; much like the first one only not quite as far away. Liz still went with two auxiliary tanks, and a full combat load. Better to have it and not need it then need it and not have it, was her Mantra.

The mission went well in the respect that there were no casualties, but that was because there were only a few people in the Village. So it was a quick mission; half an hour on the ground and they were heading back.

The call sign for the company had been Hell Dogs; clearly a play on Liz’s call sign. But she did not mind.

“Hell Dog Lead, this is Control. What is your fuel status?”

“Hell Dog Lead to Control. 60% at this time.”

“Hell Dog Lead, we have a situation at hand. Switch to frequency 4.”

“Hell Dog Lead, Roger. Switching to Frequency 4.”

Someone is in trouble. “This is Hell Dog Lead, what is your situation?”  
“Hell Dog Lead, we have Delta Alpha Papa’s down at coordinates for Whisky Lima Sierra, need support.”

Liz checked the coordinates; about 50 miles away. “Hell Dog Lead, we are 20 Mikes out.”

“OK, People, heading 235 and balls to the wall!”

Considering they were less than 50 miles from Base, Liz decided to let the Hawks go home alone. So the whole company headed for a rescue mission.

They were all honking right at 200 mph, very nearly the maximum; that used fuel up fairly quick. Liz was considering asking for a tanker run. Then they were almost there and she was calling in.  
“Hell Dog Lead to Whiskey Lima Sierra, we are 5 Mikes out, what is your situation?”

“Hell Dog Lead, we have two on the ground with hostiles closing in 5 clicks from you on your present course.”

“Roger that.”

“Doberman to Slinger, once you spot the objective, swing around to cover the other half of the perimeter.”

“Roger that, Doberman.”

Liz brought her platoon in hot, and spotted the two DAP’s on the ground about 100 meters apart. And she spotted moving figures heading their way.  
“Doberman to first platoon, spread out. Let’s make sure there are no leaks.”

And they let loose with 2.75’s. With no village in the immediate vicinity, anyone running around at night in this weather was up to no good. And the intimidation factor of all those good sized explosions was not to be over looked as well.

In only a few minutes, there were no moving figures. Liz checked her gauges; then called out for fuel status from everyone. She had taught them from day one to conserve fuel and the habit had taken; no one was much under her numbers. They could stay for about 90 minutes before they had to leave.

“Hell Dog Lead to Whiskey Lima Sierra, what is the ETA on assistance?”

“Hell Dog Lead, pickup help is one hour away.”

Liz groaned. It would take more time than that to head back and refuel.  
“Hell Dog Lead to Whiskey Lima Sierra, we have 90 Mikes before bingo status.”

“Roger that, will call for juice patrol.”

And so they waited. Liz did consider landing and idling half for 45 minutes; then the other half. She worked on the numbers and found that that would only buy them another half hour.

“Whiskey Lima Sierra, juice man will arrive in 40 mikes.”

Relieved, Liz smiled. “Roger that.”

“Doberman to Slinger, head for the barn; we will keep watch.”

“Roger that, Doberman.”

Liz then set up the refueling; one by one they would head up to 5000 feet and wait for contact with the tanker. It would pass back and forth over the area while it refueled them. The Apache with the least would head up first. She surveyed the area; it was doubtful anyone would bother them. But they had to keep a sharp eye out. They did not want one to get close with a RPG.

“Tanker Man to Hell Dog Lead, we are open for business.”

“Hell Dog Lead to Tanker Man, we are waiting; give us course and altitude and your first customer will be there.”

One by one they went up and fueled up. When Liz went up, last, she took her up to 5000 feet and accelerated to 140 Knots and spotted the tanker in the light of the half moon, even before infrared picked it up; Radar of course had him.

She moved up behind him and spotted the drogue and maneuvered toward it; it took a few minutes but she connected on her first try. It did not take long and her main tank was full. The only bad part about the system was that they could not fill up the auxiliary tanks. The pumps were only one way. However, that would still give them a full two more hours plus what was left in their auxiliaries; once informed of the tanking Liz had ordered everyone to switch to their main tank and empty it as much as possible. Liz decided in the future to have them use up their main tanks first for just this contingency. 

Their mission had been scheduled for 0200; it was now getting close to 0400; about 2 hrs till dawn. The two Chinooks had arrived and they were working on slinging the Black Hawks; it would not take long.

The rest of the mission was smooth as they were out of there by 0500, and since the Chinooks had to go slow, they did not reach the Base until almost dawn. 

The debrief for both was short. Liz once again got the impression that the DAP guys were jealous; and now that they had been rescued it was worse.

Liz then pulled her people together to announce a change in procedures.  
“From now on we will use our primary tank until it gets to 10% and then we will switch to auxiliary. However, prior to take off we will test all auxiliary tanks to make sure that the system is working.”  
With all the extra paperwork and other demands on her time, Liz had very little downtime at all. Mostly to eat and sleep. The one good thing was that time seemed to fly by. 

3 Days after the rescue of the DAP’s, they had to do it again. Two DAP’s supporting a SF S & D mission were hit by 12.7MM and crash landed. The NG Apache’s, of which only 10 of 24 were flyable, were fully committed to two other missions. The Range was too far for Little Birds; and the Kiowa warrior Battalion was also fully committed elsewhere; since for once the SF was working the day shift. So Liz had to hustle and get her ready platoon off on short notice. It had been decided to have one platoon fueled and ready to go on short notice; it caused more work for the ground crew but Liz, after consultation with the SF Commander, bearing in mind the situation with the NG Apache Battalion, chose to have them ready to go. If a mission was not scheduled that day or night, one platoon was kept ready anyway. Otherwise they all were.

Liz had them started up and moving within 30 minutes of the message; a new record. The DAP’s were over 125 miles away; so it took them at full throttle 40 minutes to get there. They found the Taliban closing in on both DAP’s which had been able to use their side guns but had been driven out as the Taliban closed in; both DAP’s had taken more hits from RPG’s and were burning. Liz came in low and hot and after quickly identifying where the SF was from the purple smoke, ordered her people to hose the area with 2.75’s. That took care of most of the Taliban that were close and drove the rest back. They were able to locate the 12.7MM MGs and destroy them as well. Then they began to look for any hiding place and put several 30MM rds in it. The two DAP’s had landed and taken off at the same place and the Taliban had been able to move the MGs close and wait for them to come back and pick up the SF. Right behind Liz was 2 MEDEVAC’s and two Black Hawks from the NG. At the moment the SF had nothing else available.

After Liz and the others had sanitized the area, the MEDEVACS and Black Hawks landed. The MEDEVACS soon took off with the wounded and the Black Hawks took the rest. Then the mission commander ordered Liz to completely destroy the DAP’s, that were in pretty bad shape anyway. The SF was unable to get close enough to set demo charges due to the fires. They needed to make sure nothing classified was captured. So Liz set it up for all four to target each DAP in turn and hit it with a Hellfire. Two to concentrate on the engine area and two to concentrate on the cockpit area. 4 Hellfire’s can do a lot of damage and they virtually obliterated the DAP’s. Then Liz had them do it again on the pieces they could see; using 30MM. After almost half an hour of blasting, there were only very small pieces left and Liz headed them home, escorting the Black Hawks.

At the debrief Liz was closely questioned about the destruction of the DAP’s; the Intelligence officer was satisfied that nothing worthwhile could be left. He congratulated Liz on being thorough. Of the 4 DAP pilots, two had been seriously injured and two slightly injured. Luckily no one had been killed.

Liz was summoned to a meeting to the SF and Aviation chief that afternoon. It was just the three of them in the SF compound in the SF commanders’ office.

The Aviation commander started it off.  
“We only had 4 DAP’s here at the moment; so with two gone and two others needing major repairs that will take at least a couple of weeks, we have none. 4 more are going to be moved here but that will take a month; we do not have that many. So, Major Parker, you will have to cover their missions. We will have to bring in more Black Hawks to compensate, but that will take a couple of weeks. So for the time being we will have to rely on what we can scrape up and what we can borrow from the NG. And their Black Hawks are not set up as ours are; so range will be a problem. We will probably have to set up refueling points, which means using some of our Chinooks or borrowing some of theirs.”

Liz was curious. “What is the story with the NG Brigade? I have not heard of any this bad or even close.”

The SF Aviation chief sighed. “This is not to leave this room, but the CO of that brigade was a political appointee that should never have been approved. His XO is not much better; and they populated the command with buddies and yes men. Already reports have gone up the chain about them; they have only been here about 3 months. They actually have some good pilots, but their maintenance section is also weak and their operational status is pathetic. And with old equipment, which is what they mostly have, that makes things even worse.”

Liz shook her head. “This brigade needs to be relieved.”

“Yes it does. But the brass is unwilling to yet make that move for political reasons.”

Liz left the office thinking hard. This was a disaster waiting to happen; and it was clear that the higher command in Washington was very reluctant to move. The Brigade came from a politically powerful state. Her people were going to be put to risk because of this, and all the other people who depended on that Aviation Brigade to support them. She took a deep breath and tried to decide what to do. She could email her congressman, but the reality was that that might take time to get things moving without a bigger push. So Liz decided to take a personal risk and talk to a reporter. She just had to figure which one.  
There were numerous reporters wandering around Bagram; but to pick one that would not out her was the problem. She knew if she was identified that there would be big trouble for her. If she had to she could take it, but she preferred to not be the sacrificial lamb. Then she figured out how to do it. She wrote up a quick brief of the problems and why; then made sure there was no way to identify where it came from and made copies. Then late that evening she slunk by the press room and left them laying there where they would be found in the morning.

By noon of the next day it was all over the base because several of the reporters were trying to get verification. Which was not hard to get as it was pretty obvious once you knew what to look for.

By the time the base commander was fielding questions and the various national news organizations were starting to wake up to a real juicy scandal, Liz was safely off on a fairly routine mission; Slinger taking one and Liz the other in a resupply of some SF advance bases. There was very little action. They got back in midafternoon to hear that it had made the national news.

And then Liz got a phone call from the congressman. Liz had splurged and bought a satellite cell phone so she could talk to Max and her family when she wanted to. She got the call in her office writing up the report on the mission.

“Liz, this is your favorite Congressman.”

“Good to hear from you sir.”

“You might not think so after this call. We just got the word here of a media storm about a messed up NG Aviation Brigade. Is it true?”

“Yes Sir it is messed up bad.”

“Unable to continue the mission?”

“Sir they have only been here 3 months and just a day ago only 10 out of 24 Apaches were operational. That is only the beginning. It is bad sir.”

“OK. I just wanted to be sure. Take Care, Liz.”

“You as well sir.”

“I am not getting shot at.”

Liz took a deep breath; there was no one around so she relaxed some.

Liz made sure to stay in her office and then her quarters for the rest of that day; luckily no missions came up.

The next morning at 0800 she was told to get to the Base Commanders office ASAP.  
Liz was a little scared that someone had figured out it had been her, maybe someone had seen something.

She was shown into the main conference room and found several high ranking officers there from the Brits and others of the Multi National force. She began to relax a little at the sight of them.  
Then the commanding general of the Afghan theatre in place; not CENTCOM, but the 3 star overseeing the overall campaign in Afghanistan came in along with the Base commander and others including the SF Commander and his Aviation Chief.

The 3 Star started it off.  
“I am sure you have all heard about the controversy with the NG Aviation Brigade. It got leaked regarding their problems; it was fairly detailed on what was wrong there. The Media is on this like starving wolves on a big fat cow. The facts are that the NG Brigade was failing in its mission and it was only going to get worse. I had already spoken to CENTCOM about taking action; but it was delayed for various reasons. It no longer is now that it is not only National News in the US, but in most of the allied countries as well. So effective as of one hour ago the Brigade commander and his XO have been relieved for cause. All his battalion commanders have also been relieved for cause. This has never happened before. So now we have to pick up the pieces. It is clear that just relieving the commanders are not enough; this Brigade is fairly rotten and its equipment and aircraft are old and dilapidated. It should never have been sent. So another brigade will be sent to take its place but that will take time. At least two months to get one here and get it up and running. We will be diverting one that was about to deploy to Iraq. In the meantime the SF Aviation Chief will be acting commander of what is left of the brigade. We will be bringing officers in to take over the Battalions and leadership of the Brigade; and we will be making available parts and if necessary maintenance personnel to get what is here running as well as possible. One change immediately is that all the Apache’s will be consolidated under the command of Major Parker as a provisional battalion. Major Parker, let me assure you that you have all necessary authority to take whatever actions are required to get more out of them. As an experienced Apache Pilot and commander, you are the best person available. I want to assure all those here as representatives of the Allied Coalition that we will do all we can to clean up this mess.”

The SF Aviation chief motioned for Liz to follow him out of the meeting at that point; Liz was happy to go. They went into another conference room and he closed the door.  
“I am going to be pulling one of the XO’s from our Blackhawk Battalions and putting him in charge of their Black Hawks. Their Chinook people are pretty good so I am letting their XO take over for the time being. The XO of their Kiowa Battalion is good as well; that unit was doing decently and should improve with better leadership. Their Apache Battalion was the real overall weak point; that and their Brigade maintenance. I have people flying in for most of those positions. But we need to know how bad it is with the Apache’s right now. So I want you to go down there and take over immediately. And take some of your maintenance people as well to see how bad THAT is.”

Liz thought for a minute. “We have a couple of people that worked on the Longbow Apache; not sure if we have anyone that worked on the A model. But they can certainly get a good idea of the situation. I will head over and collect them and descend on the NG guys like the wrath of God if I need to.”

He grinned at that. “You have experience at taking over screwed up units; so have at it. Like the general said, anyone you do not think is up to the job relieve him. You have full authority.” 

Liz gathered her thoughts as she drove back to the Operations area. She could not complain as she had set this all in motion.

She walked into Operations not at all surprised to see everyone there. Bad news always travels fast. She immediately pulled Sam to her office.  
“Sam, does anyone on maintenance have experience with the A model of the Apache?”

He thought for a minute. “Ed Wilson; he worked on them for a while before coming to the SOAR in 2008.”

“Would anyone else know anything?”

“I can ask but I don’t think so.”

“Get asking and get Ed here ASAP.”

Liz went back into the main area and held up her hands to forestall more questions.   
“OK here it is short and sweet. Because of the media firestorm, the Brigade Commander and XO and all the Battalion commanders were relieved for cause. They will be sending a brigade supposed to go to Iraq here to take its place. But in the meantime everything has to be covered. So they are going to throw all of their apache’s together with ours to make a provisional Battalion with me as Commander. They also relieved the Apache Battalion XO as well. I am about to head over there and give them the word.”

Leaving them to chew on that Liz saw Sam coming with Ed in tow. She signaled them to come into the office. They came in and she closed the door.  
“OK, Ed what do you know about A model Apache’s?”

“I worked on them for three years before I transferred here; my unit was just getting the Longbow when I left.”

“Good. You are coming with me when I take over the NG Apache’s. I want you to look them over and their situation. I need to know what we need to get to increase their operational status.”

Wasting no further time Liz got her vehicle and she and Ed headed over to where the NG flight line and hangers were. Arriving Liz looked around; then went into their operations building. The first couple of offices she came to were empty but the lights everywhere were on. Finally they got to the break room area where she could hear some arguments going on. She squared her shoulders and marched in. She signaled Ed and he nodded.  
“ATTENTION!” yelled Ed and that shut everyone up as Liz walked in the room.

They were at least soldier enough to go to attention.  
“At Ease. I am Major Elizabeth Parker and for the time being I will be your commanding officer by order of General McCafferty, Afghan Theatre Commander. I do not have to tell you why this has happened. So no bitching about that. It is done and get used to it. This battalion will be merged with my unit of the 160th SOAR until a replacement Brigade arrives and becomes operational. That is at least two months off. Now I want to see all of the Officers and Crew chiefs starting by seniority. Sgt Wilson will be checking into the maintenance end of things.” She walked over to a larger office and saw that it was the Commanders office and went inside and sat at the desk. A captain followed her in. “Name and position and experience.”  
“Captain Ralph Vinceenes, A Company commander. 3 years, 600 hours.”

Liz started making notes as they came in one by one. Overall they did not look bad and none of them were inexperienced; though to her mind the hours did not line up with the years. But it was NG. She had racked up over 600 hours in her last tour. She had almost 1900 total. The Crew Chiefs did not seem bad at all.

She walked out after the last one and found them all waiting.  
“For the moment nothing operational will change. Company and platoon commanders will remain as is. But I want to make this clear: I will roll anyone I do not think is good enough.” She then walked to where Ed was and motioned him into the office. She closed the door and pointed at the chair and he sat.  
“OK. What do you think so far?”

“SO far I think the crew chiefs are competent. I think it was more the leadership and the absolute failure of their maintenance section. Every one of the crew chiefs told me that they had a hard time getting spare parts. I think the operational status would improve greatly just having the necessary parts.” 

Liz nodded. “OK let’s go to the hangers and have a look.”  
Liz came out of the office and looked at the people gathered there.  
“At this moment this unit is grounded. So I want everyone here to write a one page suggestion for how things can be improved. If you do not want to sign it that is fine. Get it done and drop it off on the desk in there.”

Then Liz and Ed headed out and went to the hangers. They first went into the offices and Liz confronted the captain that was there.  
“I am Major Parker and for the time being I am in command. I want to see your spare parts storage.”

There was not much there. Liz looked at the Captain” Why in HELL is there not more spare parts?”

“Sir, we order but nothing has come in since I got here.” 

“Where is the maintenance Commanders office?”

He took them to a locked office. She turned to the Captain. “Who has the keys?” 

“Colonel Jones. He always locks it when he leaves at any time.”

She turned to Ed. “Kick it in.” The door was not all that solid and it only took one good kick for it to pop open. They went in and started going through the office; she told the Captain to look in the filing cabinet for those order forms. She told Ed to look over the rest of the office and she started going through his desk.

The members of the battalion were working on that paper Liz had ordered when four SF sergeants came in. “We are looking for Major Parker; where is she?”  
“Hanger.” They trooped out.

The Captain had found the orders; they had sat in the file. Ed had found other paperwork just sitting on the table; some of it was several weeks old. Liz, digging through the desk, found letters from the National Guard Bureau requesting information on orders of nonmilitary equipment. Liz looked at them and then found a bottom drawer that was locked as well. She looked up at Ed.  
“Get a crowbar.”

The SF troopers came in and found Liz. “Major Parker, the Group Commander has assigned us to be your protective detail. He is of the opinion that you might have some resistance to your assumption of command.”

Liz rolled her eyes and then patted the side arm she was never without in Afghanistan. “Sergeant, I am quite capable of shooting someone if I have to.”

Ed came back in with the crowbar and pried the drawer open. Liz reached in and pulled out some order forms for various things. They were on government forms and they were for civilian items. Just on one page there was over $5000 for things like a small utility trailer, etc. Liz sat back; that was where all the money had been going.  
At that moment a Lt Colonel came barging in.  
“Who are you and what reason did you have for breaking into my office!”  
Liz stood up slowly. “It is no longer your office by order of the Theatre Commander. You have been relieved for cause. I am Major Parker and you are under arrest. Sergeant, take him into custody and deliver him to security. The charges are theft and misappropriation of government funds.” She then waved the forms to the suddenly pale colonel. The sergeant and one of his men moved to the Colonel. “Sir, you will come with us.” And they marched him out.

Liz then looked at the captain and Ed. “Ed, call security and tell them we need an investigator here ASAP. I don’t know if they have CID but if they don’t whoever has that assignment. Captain, I want you and whoever you need to help you start figuring out what is needed to bring the Battalion back to full operational status.” She then pulled out her cell phone.  
“Sir, I just had Colonel Jones arrested for theft and misappropriation of government funds. I found order forms for civilian items in his desk drawer; the funds came out of the maintenance budget. The amount of spare parts on hand will not last one company more than a week or so of missions. The orders were filled out and filed here in his office. He kept it locked so no one could find out.”

“Yes Sir. I am betting hundreds of thousands of dollars. My question is: would he have been able to sign off on that?”

“I thought so. This might go higher even then brigade. I found letters from the NGB questioning some purchases; they were copy furnished to the state NG Commander.”

“Yes sir, Security has been notified and I have asked for an investigator.”

Liz shut it off and looked at the two of them. “Ed, wait here for the Security detail. Captain, get started on those requests. We will need enough to last at least 60 days and better make it 90 to be safe.”

“Yes sir.”

Liz then headed back to the operations building. Her escort following.

She walked in and checked the office; there was a neat stack of papers; she looked at the people. “Everyone done?” she then picked up the stack.

“I just ordered the arrest of Colonel Jones for theft and misappropriation of government funds. Those spare parts that you should have got; the money got used for their purposes. They stole from the government, the people and from you; the support you should have gotten. Well that ends now. I will do all I can to make sure you have the parts and support you need. If you show me you are good at your jobs, I will make sure your evaluations show that. Do a job for me and I will have your back.”

She then walked out and went back to her office at the Spec Ops flight line. Once again with escort.

She then went over the papers. Most of them bitched about the lack of support; some of it was about the company commanders but Liz was a little leery of what they said; she would be more likely to suspect them. Overall she did not see anything to really worry about. Well that was good. Then her office phone rang.  
“Major, this is Sergeant Wilson. They do have CID here and they are investigating. What do you want me to do now?”

“Check with that Captain and see if he needs help; if not take the rest of the day off.”

“ROGER that sir.”

Liz smiled at that and put down the phone. Then she called the SF Maintenance chief. “Captain Dawson? Major Parker. Doing things our way, how fast can you get parts from the US? We are going to need a lot of A model Apache parts; and I would not be surprised if they also need Kiowa Warrior, Blackhawk and Chinook parts. Some of that we might have; see how much we can let them have and still maintain operations for a while. Talk to Captain Wallace at the NG maintenance section. He is working on the list now for Apache’s, A model.” 

She then called the Aviation Commander.  
“Sir, spare parts are at the critical level for the Apache. I have a bad feeling it might not be all that much better for the others. I have Captain Dawson working on that problem now and the NG captain working on what they need for the Apache. Yes Sir.”

Meanwhile the SECDEF was getting a phone call from the Theatre commander.  
“Sir, Major Parker has already found evidence that the CID is looking at that shows theft on a massive scale. Money for parts diverted for private use. The Spare parts issue comes from that. What makes it worse was that she found enquiries from the NGB about some of those orders on government forms using government money and they were copy furnished to the State NG Commander. Yes Sir it seems to get worse by the hour. I will keep you informed.”

SECDEF sighed and picked up another Phone. “I need to see the President soon; it is serious.”

Liz gathered her company.  
“As of now, let’s get all the Apache’s armed and fueled. No telling how long it may take to get the other guys up and running. So for the time being we are it for the heavy hitters. For the foreseeable future one platoon will be ready for 30 minute response.” 

At 1600 Liz got a call for another meeting at HQ. She still had her detail, which now insisted on driving her vehicle.

This time it was the Theatre commander, G4, SF commander, Aviation Commander, CID commander, and Liz.

The theatre commander noticed Liz’s detail and asked the SF commander  
“Major Parker seems to have a bigger detail than I do.”

“Sir, all things considered I thought it might not be a bad idea until things settle down.”

“Probably a good idea.”

He then waited until Liz sat down.

“Major Asher of CID will make his preliminary report.”

“Following up on Major Parker’s initial report, after a thorough check of all Maintenance records and offices, substantial evidence of continued and large scale fraud was found. The total will probably reach several million dollars. At this time it is hard to determine when it started, but it has been ongoing now for at least 2 years. It is also likely that officials of the State NG bureau were involved all the way up to and including the state NG Commander.”

The general then nodded to the G4.

“At this time, we are still working on just how much is needed to bring them back into solid operational status. All the units were short on spare parts; the Apache Battalion especially.”

He then gestured to the Aviation Commander.

“The leadership at the top was either incompetent or corrupt. All officers over captain with the exception of XO’s of the Kiowa warrior battalion and the Chinook Battalion have been relieved. They appear competent to assume command at least temporarily. Major Parker will take over consolidating the Apache battalion with her company. I am reassigning one of my XO’s to take over one Black Hawk Battalion. At this time I think consolidating the battalions of the Black Hawks is a reasonable answer.”

He then looked at Liz. “Major Parker, what is your evaluation at this time of the Apache Battalion?”

“Sir, their leadership stank. From what I have seen, I think that the majority of the rest are reasonably competent. I am not going to even bother to read the evals of the relieved officers; clearly favoritism was rampant. What I am going to do if there are no calls for support tomorrow is go up in one of their operational Apache’s as the copilot for a check ride of each of their pilots. I should be able to get that done in one day. I will then know just how good their pilots are. The spare parts situation is critical; I have been discussing that with our SF Maintenance personnel to see what they can spare for the other units. I have the Captain from the Apache Maintenance section working on a list for parts needed to last the Battalion for 90 days; he should have that list finished sometime today. We need to get that list off and a response as fast as possible.”

The general looked at his G4. “As soon as that list is ready it will be considered a critical national security priority. Have maintenance send us a 90 Day supply of estimated parts needs for the helicopters of that brigade.”

“Yes sir.”  
The general adjourned the meeting; the Aviation commander indicated he wanted to speak to the SF commander and the General. He nodded and waited for the others to leave.

“General, this might be a little much but I want to designate Major Parker as the Acting Brigade XO. She has a better grip on the situation than any of us do. And that would give her the authority to get anything fast done that needs to be done.”

“That is putting a lot on her plate, Colonel.”

“Yes sir but on the other hand she has experience at taking disaster areas and shaping them up quickly. She has done it twice before.”

He looked at the SF commander. “Your thoughts?”

“I agree sir. It is a lot but she can handle it and probably better than anyone we can find for the foreseeable future.”

“Very well. Get it done for my signature.”

“Yes sir.”

Liz headed back to her office; she looked around the building and considered some things. They had a lot more room in this building then they used. There had been several SF facilities built since she had been there last. She went out and saw the Maintenance Company commander.  
“Captain Dawson, please come into my office.”

He sat down and she closed the door.  
“Would we have room if we relocated that Apache Battalion here?”

He blinked then thought about it. “Yes sir. It might get a little cramped but not too much.” Liz nodded and picked up her phone.  
“Sir, in the interests of efficiency and frankly to make my life a little easier I would like to relocate the NG Apache Battalion to our facility; we do have room.”

“Thank you, sir. OH. Yes sir.” A little dazed she put down the phone.

“Major, what is it?”

“I just got made the acting XO of the NG Brigade.”

“I would say congratulations but I think that that would be in error.”

“Yeah.”

“This is a Fox News special report. Scandal in Afghanistan. The theatre Commander, Lt General McCafferty, has relieved for cause the Commander and most of the senior officers of the NG Brigade from …..”

“This is a Fox News Special report. Scandal in Afghanistan. More information is slowly coming out of Bagram AFB where the NG Brigade from…”

“This is Fox News Tonight. It has been a very interesting day at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, to say the least. We now have information that the senior officers of the NG brigade that were relieved this same day have been arrested for what is being called the largest theft and misappropriation of DOD funds in many years. This follows their relief due to the failure of the Brigade to fulfill its mission of supporting the American and Allied forces there. It now seems clear that the failure was at least partly due to the diversion of funds that were supposed to purchase spare parts for the Brigades helicopters. Those funds apparently went into the pockets of the Brigades senior officers or were used to purchase items such as TVs and other items for their own personal use. It is rumored that this scandal goes all the way to the office of the State NG Commander, Major General….”

With her new found authority Liz headed to the NG operations building.

She came into the office and whistled which needless to say got their attention.  
“I have just been appointed acting Brigade XO. So I am giving this order right now. Pack up everything and move to the SF operations building that my Apache Company has been using. We have the room and it makes it simpler for me. Also your helicopters and maintenance section will move as well. We can tow the helicopters and it’s not like there is much in the way of spare parts to move.” 

She saw Captain Wallace. “Captain, as of now you are Support Battalion commander. Is that list done?”

“Yes sir.”

“Take it yourself up to the Theatre G4 at HQ. They are waiting for it. And inform them of your appointment.” 

“Yes sir.”

She looked around. “Ok, everyone. CHOP CHOP. Let’s get moving.”

She then headed over to the SF operations building and saw that they were concentrating together and making room. It was not long before the NG people started to arrive. Liz assigned the company’s to various rooms and the Maintenance people to others. It did get a little crowded but not much. She then went out and checked the Hanger; already Apaches were being pulled into the SF Hanger. By 2000 amazingly it was done. She looked around at everyone.  
“OK, people, get something to eat and hit the sack. Tomorrow will be another busy day. I want all people here at 0700.”

Just at that minute, a phone rang. One of the NG officers answered it. Then looked at Liz. “Sir, a fire base under attack requests support.”

Liz took a deep breath. Then looked at Slinger. “Your platoon was on alert today; looks like you get less sleep. OK your people do not have to report until 0900. Get to work. Everyone not with 2nd Platoon get outta here.”

Liz lingered until they took off 35 Minutes later; the fire base was only 60 miles away; with luck they would be back and done before midnight. Liz then, with her detail, went and got something to eat. She took her detail with her into the senior officer’s part of the Main Mess hall. Ignoring the looks of anyone who dared to glance her way. She was able to relax a little and then hit the sack with her alarm set for 0600. It was 2100. 

She woke up at 0535, and instead of trying to get any more sleep she just got up and showered; it was nice having her own bathroom. She got out and headed to the mess hall for breakfast. Her detail was waiting for her. She asked them how long they were stuck with her; the Sergeant grinned.  
“Major, this is an easy detail. We do not mind it at all.”

They then got to Operations at 0630. To find most of them already there. She got details on Slinger’s mission; they had gotten back at 2230. No problems. Her platoon was now armed and ready. She thanked Sam who shrugged and told her that it did not take long to arm them; the fuel was already in the tank. She then talked to the three captains commanding the companies; at the moment only 4-5 were operational in each. A total of 13 out of 24. 54%. Not good. She then told them that today they would be doing check rides and she would be riding in the copilot seat. She told them to get one fueled and ready, but not armed.

Then one by one she spent half an hour in the air with each pilot. They started at 0800 and finished at 2100. She did not think any of them were poor. But clearly the lack of spare parts had prevented them from flying as much as they should have been. She had forgotten how old the A Model’s were; compared to hers they were like the Model T Ford. She would have to remember that they had nowhere near the capability at night hers had; but daytime they should be OK.

She was glad to spend the day in the air as things were still settling on the ground. While she waited for it to be refueled a couple of times she kept in touch with things. The word came that the parts request had been sent and was being filled as they spoke. They hoped to have it to them within 72 hours. Liz thought they might be a little optimistic due to the age of the A model. The Aviation commander had told her that they had put off a few missions in order to let things settle down; she told him she was grateful. The Maintenance people thought that the situation with the rest of the NG choppers was manageable for the short term with what they had on hand between them and the SF parts supply. 

“This is Fox News tonight. The Continuing Fallout of the Scandal in Afghanistan has now reached the NG HQ of the State Brigade. The Major General in command has resigned; but information has come out that he will be charged as the officers of that brigade already have. The Governor, who appointed the General despite opposition, has claimed he had no knowledge of the purported thefts. But already there are calls for his resignation that are gaining strength at the State Capital; where our reporter….” 

Liz’s appointment as Acting Brigade XO had leaked out; and that garnered a fair amount of attention. The additional fact that she had consolidated the NG Apache’s with her company also got out.

At Campbell there was a lot of shaking of heads. Liz had found herself another goat rope to unravel. At their get together, due to the weather inside one of the pavilions, the Crew + Husbands and the Posse + husbands talked about it.  
Vicki shrugged. “They always seem to find a way to drop it in her lap.”

Three good friends gathered at Maria’s also shook their heads.  
Tess put it best. “She might as well have a shovel in her office at all times.” 

The day after the check rides Liz was told that they needed to start flying again; she figured she should be grateful things had been that quiet. There were three missions for that day that required Apache support; one was fairly close and she gave that to the NG A company; they were able to put four in the air and did that one. Liz took the farthest one out that turned out to be the easiest; and Slinger took the third. All were relatively OK. No serious casualties or damage to any helicopters. While flying their check rides, Liz had talked to each pilot, impressing them on how she wanted things done. She had all the pilots working on scenarios and responses to situations. That afternoon a request for support from a UK Royal Commando Patrol Base came through and Liz took that one herself; it got a little hairy as the Taliban had managed to gather together a fairly respectable force. But they were clearly not the top of the line and were easy prey.

The following day things were pretty quiet; the only resupply operations were supported by Kiowa warriors. The SF was quiet for the moment; Little Birds escorting Blackhawks; and they had been able to replace the 2 Destroyed DAP’s with 4 and the other two had been repaired so for the time being they were sufficient. The SF commander had told Liz, though, that they would have some big missions in the next couple of weeks that would need her whole company. 

Liz found the paperwork of being the acting XO of a Brigade daunting; so she tried to ignore it as much as she could. She dived right into working on the NG apache battalion to try and shape them up. She got good news on that day as the word came that by virtually grabbing every single spare part from every unit that had any, it was possible to get the necessary bits and pieces that were needed to bring the Apache’s up to code. They would be there the next day. So Liz decided to have all available maintenance people in the entire brigade plus SF to help out when the parts got there; they would work on every Apache. The Aviation Commander agreed and set it in motion.

Liz had the maintenance captain for the 160th plus Captain Wallace in her office and put it to them.  
“We will have virtually every maintenance person available. Use the crew chiefs and crews as the primary workers and everyone else helping move the parts and hand the tools and otherwise assist. We should be able to put 4-5 people helping each of the birds. When that plane sets down, we have crews with forklifts moving to it right away and pulling the pallets of parts off. Then we will tear the pallets apart and lay them out in groups. We will put all the parts for each apache in one area and those parts will then be moved to their respective copters. Then they start working the Apache’s. We work until they are too tired to do it right; then sleep and then start up until they are all done. If parts are not quite due replace them anyway; I want as close to a complete overhaul as we can get.”

The C-5B landed at 0800 the next morning and they were ready; it was unloaded in one hour and in two more all the pallets had been separated into the parts for 24 Apache’s. Then the spare ones were taken into the Hanger storage area. By noon they were working on the Apache’s. Liz was in the air as two resupply missions were scheduled for the morning and two for the afternoon. Thankfully there was very little for them to do. When she landed at 1600 that afternoon and checked on the progress, she was happy to see that the currently operational Apache’s had been redone as requested; and the nonoperational Apaches were on their way. Her people were busy on their birds and some of the others had to go and work the Chinooks and Blackhawks used on the supply runs but otherwise the ground crews moved fast with the extra work; and as each Apache was done that crew began to help others. Having the extra hands to tear open and unpack boxes made a huge difference. By 2000 that night they were done and exhausted. She told everyone to hit the sack and not report until 0800 the next day.

“Fox News Special Report, the Scandal in Afghanistan. In only 5 days the scandal about the theft of money meant to keep the Helicopters running in Afghanistan has had major consequences in the US. Governor Banker has given notice he will resign; while still claiming no knowledge of the thefts. But the fact that he insisted on nominating the General clearly implicated for head of the State National guard has become too much for his party and he has been forced to hand in his resignation effective in 24 hours. Just yesterday the General was formally charged, bringing the total number of NG officers indicted to 16. Reporter…”

Liz was informed the next day that they wanted to start a campaign the day after. She had the whole Battalion flying that day; and drilled them hard. Then had them out firing all weapons until exhausted. She could see clear progress by the end of the day. The next morning at 0700 she had everyone in.  
“OK people, now we get back to work. Today is the beginning of a campaign to hurt the Taliban bad. We will be flying night and day for the next several days to get things done. The A Models will be doing all the day flying and the Super Apache’s will be doing the night flying. There will be 3 large missions each day and two smaller ones at night; all SF. We will do this as long as the machines hold up.”

That day the NG Apache’s headed out and got it done; they had a couple of hairy moments but nothing serious. They did well and had no damage; and outside of a few bullet holes in some Black Hawks there was none to any other ships. A few wounded but not badly on the ground. Liz and Slinger’s missions that night were almost as routine; more shots fired by the Apache’s but only minor wounds to any of the SF. 

The next day was a little more hairy for the NG guys; they had a resupply mission that the Taliban tried to interrupt and it got tense for a while. That night was also more tense for Liz as the village her group hit shot back with 12.7MM and damaged one of the SF Blackhawks; but not seriously and it was able to limp back to base. Liz personally hosed the area the shots came from and was pretty sure she had evened the score. 

The next day was a bellwether for the NG; three big missions attacking larger villages that required solid support. After each mission Liz made sure to give them hard critiques; but to also give praise when it was due. Liz could see their confidence increasing as well as their abilities. They were good flyers; they just needed the leadership and support to be successful. That night two more missions for Liz and Slinger; virtual cake walks.

The batch of missions reached their crescendo on the 4th day when it was decided to hit even more targets. Liz, after being told that there would be no night mission, wanted to finish it and they did 8 missions in the morning and 8 in the afternoon. One company splitting into its platoons for each mission. SF and the ground pounders got together and hit virtually every target in the area. Some of them were quickly mounted and every Black Hawk and Chinook was used. The morning missions took off just before Dawn; and were all done by 1000; the afternoon missions took off at 1300 and got back just after dark. They did not do a mission debrief after the evening one because everyone was dropping. So Liz postponed it until the next morning.

There was a fair amount of shooting by everyone at one time or another that day. The SF fully extended itself using all its Little Birds and DAP’s. At least two dozen targets were hit that day; an all-time record for Bagram. And amazingly no chopper was seriously damaged and only a few troopers were more than moderately wounded. This campaign convinced the remaining Taliban to virtually pack it in for the time being.

The next day Liz pulled everyone in for the last debriefing and to talk to them.

After it was over she looked at the assembled personnel; all the pilots, copilots and crews.  
“People, we set an all-time record for number of targets hit in one day yesterday. The last four days were also a record. And not one chopper was seriously damaged and only a few troopers were more than moderately wounded, and we did not lose anyone. Meantime we put a serious hurt on the Taliban in this area. So pilots get your reports finished and maintenance get your birds done; and as soon as you have finished those tasks, take the rest of the day off. You have fully earned it.”

Liz got her own paperwork done then went to a meeting with the SF commander and Aviation commander.  
The SF commander was cheerful.  
“All our intelligence says the Taliban have abandoned their forward bases and have sl unk back to Pakistan. This offensive really rocked them hard. They took a lot of losses, and there are indications most of their mid-level people got taken out. All the more reason for them to go and try and recover in what they think is their safe haven.”

It did not take a piano to fall on Liz’s head to know what was coming next.  
“When do we start?”

“We start hitting their refuges in Pakistan tomorrow night. They will have just arrived and will not be moving much; that is their pattern. Predator and other intel tells us that these two moderately sized villages in this area of the tribal regions is where they are gathering. And we will hit them. The DAP’s will hit two others, not as far away. These three near ones will be hit with Black Hawks and Little Birds. We think if we can clean out those 7 targets, this will hurt them so much they will be unable to do much of anything for several months.”

The Aviation commander then took over.  
“The two targets you will be a part of are the farthest into Pakistan; we will hit them right at midnight. We will have four tanker aircraft available tomorrow night for all our operations. One possible concern is that these two targets might have some fairly heavy defensive weapons. That means 23 MM and almost certainly several 12.7MM. It is also possible they might have some Russian SA-7’s. Now they should pose no threat to you; your birds have those automatic systems which so far have been shown to be very effective against hand held systems.”

Liz nodded, soberly. Then asked. “Is one of them supposed to be tougher than the other?”

“Yes. This one is more likely to have any heavy weaponry. I am guessing that is the one you will take.”

“Of course sir. Commander’s privilege and obligation.”

“Another thing about this is that it will be Christmas Eve. So there is a very good chance they might think we will not hit them.” 

Liz blinked; she had actually forgotten.

Liz briefed her company that afternoon.   
“Slinger will hit this target; 1st platoon will hit this target. Be warned; there will almost certainly be 12.7’s; and probably 23MM. The good news is that it’s a new moon and they will have a very hard time seeing anything. While we have our fancy toys. Now I do want to make this clear; these targets are in Pakistan, so make sure of what you shoot at. There will be a stink about this raid no matter what; but we have to do our best to make sure only those holding a weapon and shooting at us get waxed. That means while we will take a full combat load, we will primarily use our 30MM.”

They took off at 1015; full combat and four auxiliary tanks; the first time they had gone at Max take off load. Liz could tell; the Apache was not happy. But she got off the ground and since they were going at the max speed of the SF Black Hawks, they burned a fair amount of fuel for the target that was 180 miles away. Since the SF birds were also at max fuel, they were a little slow that night. It took almost an hour and a half to get there. Per operating procedure, they had made sure all auxiliaries were working, and then switched over to the main. They used just over 60% getting there. 

It had been decided to do it fast and hard; all 12 birds in a group, the Apache’s on the outside and the Black Hawks inside. The Black Hawks swooped down and deposited their troops, and then lifted off and hovered at a slight distance; the Apache’s just hovered. Resistance was light as it did appear they had gotten complete surprise. Then some fighters started to appear; they got plinked. Two 12.7’s opened up wildly and got toasted. Then it was virtually still; though they could see weapon flashes in the village; it appeared the SF had them on the run and they were backing off fast. Liz as she had planned then moved to the rear of the village, with Octopus at her side. A stream of people were running from the village; women and children mixed in. There were a few with arms but they were too close to the others and Liz held fire. Then the stream all but stopped; she could still see the flash of weapons fire but it was close to the end of the village. Soon a group, followed by another group was running. Liz zeroed in on the first group; several were armed; but only with pistols. Liz knew that that meant they were almost certainly Taliban. Liz fired 4 rds of 30MM HE right at their feet; they were tossed in the air, several legs flying off separate from the bodies. Then she targeted the second group that was firing into the village and blew them totally away. Right after that she could see SF troops quickly heading towards the two groups, concentrating on the group in front. She saw the flashes of camera’s and then a couple of pistol shots as they made sure these Taliban would bother no one again. Right after that they got the word to withdraw. Liz pulled back and lined up her platoon.  
“Doberman to everyone; be ready; if there is anything left they will fire when the hawks land.”

And sure enough a 23MM opened up; Octopus saw it and hosed it; it scored no hits. And that was it. They took off when the Black Hawks did.

They were two thirds the way back when the call came.  
“Lulu Baker 23 calling Hell Dog Lead.”

“Hell Dog Lead, go ahead.”

“Hell Dog Lead need some help at Xray Tango Golf 456”

Liz checked her fuel by habit; they had plenty. “Hell Dog Lead, roger that. ETA is 40 minutes.”

The Commander of the strike team told Liz to take everyone; they were close enough. So Liz did; changing course and flooring it. The Apache’s had switched over to the auxiliary one at the village; she ordered them to switch to 2. On the other side which would balance the bird again. They did better than she thought; she called in at the 30 Minute mark.  
“Hell Dog Lead to Lulu Baker 23, we are 5 mikes out, what is the situation?”

“Hell dog Lead we have a downed Baker Hotel; recovery is 30 mikes out but we are at Bingo Status; contact them on frequency 3.”

“Roger that.” Liz then changed to that frequency, the others doing the same.

“Hell Dog Lead to Baker Hotel on the floor; how is the view?”

“Baker Hotel to Hell Dog Lead; view is fine now that you are here; nothing to see otherwise.”

“Roger that, we will look around.”

So Liz and the others; once they had pin pointed the downed Black Hawk, then looked over the area carefully; apparently they had been damaged but had been able to move some miles from the target and land in a fairly open area. So it was not hard to keep watch.

Nothing happened and 30 Mins later the Chinook arrived; another 30 minutes and they had the damaged black hawk in a sling and were moving towards the base. Liz escorting all the way home.

Once there she had heard that Slinger had also had to oversee a downed Black Hawk, about the same situation. But it was a mechanical fault; so they sent a repair crew and they got back not long after Liz did. Liz was glad to hear that no one had died and only that black hawk had been downed; some others were a little shot up but were ok. A lot of Taliban had been erased; and almost certainly a fair amount of their mid-level leadership for that area. And this would make them retreat deeper into Pakistan, bringing them closer to the area that the Pakistani army operated and perhaps within range. Also it would make it harder for them to move back and forth across the border. Overall a good outcome.

As expected the Pakistani government protested the invasion; the US blandly said they were in hot pursuit of Taliban running from their recent defeat and the border was hard to figure out at night. Both sides knowing what it was all about.  
A meeting with the SF commander later that day bore this out.  
“The sensible ones in the Pakistani Government understand; but they have to say things for internal consumption. It is becoming clear our recent offensive crippled them and this last one all but finished them off.”

Liz saw the Aviation commander and he was happy how things were going everywhere.  
“The brass has made the decision that the NG Brigade will redeploy to Kuwait and await some new officers; then take the Brigades place that is coming here in Iraq. It is much easier duty and they will have time to get their act together. They are looking better all around. The brigade coming is from the 1st Infantry; they will be here January 24 and will be operational Feb 15. So you have about 6 weeks left. And so far the new Super Apache has been all we could ask. This should shut up the critics.” 

Liz was cheered up by that; depressed when she got back to her office and saw the piled up paperwork. Deciding to be like Scarlet O’Hara and putting it off for tomorrow, she went to check in with what was going on with the NG. They had one mission that morning; but two that afternoon, supply coverage. She talked to the pilots and then the maintenance people; they were all much more confident and the results were clear. Operational status was at 91%.

Liz headed back to her office and decided to take a whack at her paperwork; she was glad that the SF had withdrawn their detail; it had been embarrassing.

She finally left at 1900, having gotten through a fair amount of it, all the most important anyhow.  
The weather went bad late that night, rather unexpectedly, and when she got up she looked out her window and realized no one would be flying that day. So she headed over to operations.  
“OK, let’s have a bull session. Talk about anything and everything.”

That went on for over an hour and then Liz told them to take the rest of the day off. She then visited the hangers and talked to the crews and had them talk as well. Then she went and visited the Kiowa’s, Black Hawks and Chinooks. After each she gave them the rest of the day off. So by noon everyone was free. And Liz got a feel on how the Brigade was doing. They were doing pretty well considering. She talked to the other acting Battalion commanders and they seemed ok. She then headed up to talk to the Aviation Commander.

He listened to her and agreed that the Brigade was shaping up. And congratulated her on being a large part of the reason.

He said as much to the Theatre Commander after he gave the daily evening briefing that he had wanted since the whole mess had started.

“So it really was the bad leadership and lack of support?”

“I would say so sir. This is a good brigade if well led and well supported. They have improved tremendously just in the last two weeks. Especially the Apache Battalion.”

“Obviously much of that due to Major Parker.”  
“Most of that due to Major Parker. She had the reputation going in; and she immediately assumed command; then showed them she would lead. That getting all the maintenance people in the brigade to help rebuild the Apache’s made a big impression. Then the fact that she led by example. Then stepped back and let the Company Commanders lead. Which gave them confidence. It all fed on itself in a good way. Then having a bunch of successful missions in a row like that. Today she talked to just about everyone in the Brigade, asking for input and letting them all have a gripe session. I do not think there is any doubt that everyone in that brigade would now follow her lead anywhere.”

The theatre commander repeated most of that to CENTCOM in their daily conversation. Who passed it up the ladder to SECDEF.

Continuing a recent tradition, the new president elect had decided to keep his predecessors SECDEF. So he had a briefing and with only a little over three weeks to go before he took office, he wanted to know what was going on there.  
“Sir, the situation in Iraq has become mostly a garrison situation; we just hope the next elections stabilize things there so we can complete our pullout. In Afghanistan our recent offensive in the north has all but crippled the Taliban there. In the south they got hurt as well and are probably done for a while until the weather warms up and they can rebuild somewhat. We will take advantage and keep the pressure on.”

“That NG Brigade, how are they doing under new leadership?”

“Very well sir. Their Apache Battalion has improved tremendously.”

“And if rumors are to be believed, most of that is due to Major Parker.”

“Yes sir; she turned that unit around a full 180.”

“She is due to take her company back soon, correct?”

“They are due back mid-February. She would have gone sooner but is being held until combat operations conclude for her composite Battalion.”

“A wise decision. I assume a suitable commendation will be forthcoming?”

“We are debating that now sir. She did quite a lot.”

“Yes she did. Make sure that it is commensurate.”

“Yes sir.”

The weather cleared up but things stayed fairly quiet; she had the NG Apache’s up and practicing firing and maneuvering; working the junior officers more. Outside of a few supply missions the next week was quiet.

Then she was informed that Jack had been promoted and would be the 160th XO; and she was now the Battalion Commander. 

On the 10th, she was called in for another meeting by the SF commander and Aviation commander.  
The SF commander started it off.  
“We have good intel that the Taliban senior leadership wants action up here; they do not care about the losses. So they are sending some more leaders here to take over and start things up again. We have a predator keeping track of them pretty well. Now normally they would have been taken out by the Predator putting a Hellfire into their vehicle. But the plan is to let them get to wherever they are going in the Tribal Area, then wait for more of them to gather before hitting them. But this also means that we will have to move fast. Probably only a few hours warning. And we will want to use your whole company. Odds are this will happen in the next 2-3 days. So you will need to have your ships ready each night. Daytime is OK, we will not move then.”

Liz went right to Sam “For the next few days both Platoons will need to be armed and ready with full combat and fuel loads for a possible night mission.”

Meanwhile Liz kept on pushing the NG to do better and they responded; she no longer felt she needed to go along or even push hard in the meetings; she more and more let the Captains do most if not all of it; she found it hard sometimes to take that step back but felt it was necessary. She was also informed that since things had improved so much TDY officers would not be sent and they would remain as it was. While a compliment, she would have been happy to have less work. 

Clearly the SF was waiting for the moment to strike and had put off anything else. So for a while Liz really had less to do; so she went to work on the paperwork she had been ignoring. Then every so often she would tour the NG Brigade sections to see what was going on. She had taken to try and do that when she could. Being Brigade XO was a pain most of the time, but it did allow her to make quick decisions. The Aviation Commander had pretty much left the operation of the Brigade in her hands.

On the afternoon of the second day of waiting, Liz got the word that the mission was a go. She immediately started to gather the pilots; letting Sam know that they would be flying that night.   
“OK, people we have a night mission. The SF have been keeping track of new Taliban arrivals. The word is that the senior Taliban types have demanded action and have sent some new leadership in to get it started. They will be across the border, of course, and a fair distance at that. So we will be going with max fuel and combat load. And one more thing this time. We will be carrying Sidewinders as well. Almost certainly we will not need them, but just in case.”

At 1800 Liz got the formal briefing from the Intel weenie. The SF commander and aviation commander were the only other ones in the room.  
“We have substantiated information that several of the more senior level leadership is being sent. They have been very careful; they are mindful of satellite and Predators. But we have still been able to track two of them to the site. We expect more to show up this evening. The actual meeting will probably be tomorrow during the daytime with them scattering as soon as it gets dark. They have picked a place almost 250 miles from here.”

The Aviation commander then took over.  
“We will be using our latest long range ships which means of course the Super Apache’s and everything else. We will refuel as soon as the flights reach Pakistani territory again on the way back. If necessary; we will have all four available tankers there. So we would be able to quickly refuel all aircraft.”

Liz decided to broach a sensitive subject.  
“I have ordered my Company to Arm with Sidewinders. How likely is their use?”

The Aviation commander considered that.  
“The Pakistan Air Force does very limited night work; so frankly the chances are very slim.”

Liz noticed the weenie was not comfortable. She concentrated on him.  
“Captain, if there is information we should know spill it now.”

BOTH of the other officers then focused on him. The SF commander spoke first  
“Captain, you better not leave out anything no matter what your orders are or I guarantee YOU will fry.” 

He still looked uncertain. Liz decided he needed more motivation; she was NOT going to take her people into a trap.  
“Captain, let me make myself VERY clear. If something happens and I even suspect we were not told everything, I will shoot you. Is that clear?”  
Her voice was very quiet but there was no doubt in this room she meant it.

“Sir, this is not even official.”

“Does not matter- I want the entire story.”  
“We have had some indications that a couple of very high ISI officers are going to meet with those Taliban. But we do not know when.”

Liz looked at him hard. “If those officers want to meet with Taliban officials, now would be the time. They will not stay in one place long.”

The Aviation Commander slowly nodded. “The ISI do have some highly trained operators of helicopters that we have equipped, not US made, and that can fly at night.”

Liz was thinking very hard. “They would not be meeting with mid-level Taliban; only high level.”

The SF Commander nodded. “Higher level than we have identified at this meeting.”

Something was at the back of her mind. Liz thought harder; what had she heard? Then she remembered.  
“If those ISI officers are some of the high level ones who have been helping out the Taliban, it would not be surprising if they were BRINGING that High Taliban official to the meeting.”

The Captain looked pole axed, clearly he had not considered that possibility.  
The other two were nodding slowly. The SF Commander mused.  
“That makes a lot of sense; and why we have heard nothing about a high Taliban official; this area has been pounded and their forces pretty much destroyed; the remaining fighters have to have very low morale. Showing support from the ISI and a visit from a high Taliban official would do a lot to change that.”

They decided to act on that assumption; the mission would move into the area and wait for the Helicopter. The Tankers would move closer, into Pakistan, to respond. Originally the attack was to be made at midnight; but now it was thought to hold it back to around 0200; but to have the forces there, nearby, within the range of the village for a quick move. The SF commander made a call to the Pentagon to have a satellite dedicated for that area; they would have good warning of the helicopter. And they would refuel at the border going in.

10 Black Hawks; 6 assault; 2 reserve and 2 MEDEVAC would be going with Liz’s company. They left at 2200 and got to the border at 2300; then it took an hour to refuel everyone; they then headed to the target. They reached it on time and waited in an area 20 miles away. It was decided to land and idle to save fuel.

It was definitely nerve racking, sitting on the ground in Pakistan over 200 miles from the base. 0100 came and nothing, then at 0130 came the signal; but it was not what was expected.  
“Control to Neighborhood Watch; 3 targets at bearing 155 moving on course 245 at 100 knots. ETA 15 minutes.”

The SF Major in command then ordered them to move.  
“Neighborhood Watch to Bodyguard; moving in 60 mikes.”

“Bodyguard Roger that 60 MIKES.”  
No one had expected the two other helicopters; Liz was betting they were some of the Armies Huey Cobras, they had some night capability. There to escort. Liz then signaled command.  
“Bodyguard to Neighborhood Watch; will take out extras after primary done.”

“Neighborhood Watch, Roger That.”

The minutes went by; Liz had already decided if the satellite showed them leaving she would chase them down and take them out.

They then headed out; Liz quickly got the two hovering helicopters on her screen; if they were staying the meeting would not last long. She quickly designated Slinger to take out the Escorts while she would do the transport chopper. 

They were going slowly when she noted that the two escorts had stopped hovering and were now circling; she had a hunch that meant the chopper was taking off.

“Bodyguard to backstop; prepare to take your shots.”

“Backstop to Bodyguard, Roger that.”

Then the third helicopter took off. And the three of them started to move off and Liz had to make a decision.  
“Bodyguard to Backstop; support Neighborhood Watch; we will get it done.”

“Backstop to Bodyguard, Roger.”

“Octopus, you take right hand escort; Hannibal take left hand; I will take center.”

“Roger” came a chorus.

Liz waited another few minutes; they were still closing on the enemy; now within the envelope of the Sidewinder; now was the time.  
“Everyone get lock.”  
She then targeted the middle helicopter and got the tone indicating lock on.  
“FIRE!”

They all fired at once; it was only seconds and then the three missiles found their targets. Three fireballs. That dropped straight down and hit the ground.  
“Let’s get back to business people.” 

The SF was in the village and Slinger and company were doing some plinking, but not much. 30 minutes went by and then the world came for extraction.  
It went without incident and with no MEDEVAC called in any wounds had to be minor. Liz then checked her fuel gages and figured they would have no trouble making it back. Sitting on the ground for that hour and a half had made the difference. They motored fast to the border and then slowed to cruising speed. They landed at 0530 still dark. 

The Debrief consisted of Liz and her pilots and the SF mission commander and two of his officers. He told the debriefers that they had not been able to see the fireballs so none of his people knew about it. They had gotten all the Taliban in the village and Slinger had pot shot a few escaping. 

The next day the SF commander told Liz that Pakistan had reported two high ranking ISI officials dead in a helicopter crash. And two AH-1 Hueys crashed in a separate accident while training. No survivors from any of them. Liz nodded quietly. She was not proud of taking out the Hueys; they had been just ordinary Joes doing their job. Right after landing the Crew Chiefs had removed the Sidewinders; making sure very few people noticed that had been carrying and hopefully no one noticed that three had been fired.

They had only a month left; the replacement Brigade would be arriving the next week; and they would be up and running by the 15th of Feb. B Company would be in the week before. So Liz and Company A would be gone; the crew chiefs and crews as well; the rest of the maintenance people would remain.

As regards the NG Brigade, it would be going to Kuwait for two months and would receive new Senior Officers, then after giving each side to get used to the other, they would then go to Iraq. At least that was the plan. Then it changed.

Liz groaned as she went to another meeting at the head shed (HQ). She wondered what it was this time.  
Theatre Commander; Deputy; G4; SF Commander; Aviation Commander. And her. Of course as Acting Brigade XO she would be nominally considered to be representing the Brigade rather than the Aviation commander who was in charge of all units.

The Theatre Commander was quick to the point.  
“Due to the firestorm over the scandal, the state’s congressional delegation has weighed in. They think that since the Brigade has been performing well, it should remain and complete the next 7 months of its mission. As a matter of pride. I am sure that a lot of the brigade feels differently, not to mention their families. I do not have to tell you that with the situation politically, with both sides very close to each other in both House and Senate in numbers, that that state has a lot of clout. And all members of the delegation, no matter which party, agree on this. So unless something changes, they will be staying. The brigade that was going to come here will go to Iraq as intended. Needless to say this messes them up pretty good. “

Liz sat there thinking; this probably meant she would stay as well. Which really hurt. Instead of one month away from going home now she would be 7 months away. And it would be a ground command as well; no flying. Well not until her company came back which would be just supposedly as she was going home; so now it meant 10 months. She looked up. The General had finished and was getting up to leave for another meeting. His Deputy stayed. The Aviation Commander looked at Liz.

“Contrary to what you are thinking, Major, you are not going to carry the can. Though I have no doubt the NG Apache Battalion would much rather you stayed in command a regular Apache Battalion commander from another unit will be brought in to take over. The upper echelon turnover will happen before you leave; but you will leave on the 15th as scheduled.”

Liz smiled brightly and it seemed the whole room lit up.  
“You are not going to get an argument from me.”

“The captain you were training before you left, Captain Manson, has gotten his promotion to Major and will be coming to take your place as overall commander of the Super Apache’s on base. He will stay until you return later on with A company again; if that is how it is going to happen; depending on how fast the other Battalion man’s up.”

Liz left the meeting feeling better in one respect; but less in another. The NG Brigade had been looking forward to getting out; however they would be going back to the states 5 months sooner than they would otherwise. The Aviation commander would call all the officers together in a meeting in the next hour to let them know. Liz decided to make herself scarce.

Liz made sure she got back to her office sometime after the announcement. As expected the reactions were mixed. Some were put out but others recognized they would go home as originally scheduled and would not have the stigma of failing a deployment. So she thought things were going to be OK. Not too long later the three captains of the companies asked to see her and she brought them into her office.  
“It is your nickel, guys.”

Captain Vinceenes started.  
“Some of the guys think otherwise, sir, but I for one would be glad to finish my deployment and get home in 7 months instead of 12. Afghanistan is hotter than Iraq, no question, but frankly for us the risks are minimal. Now the Black Hawk guys will probably see it differently.” The other two nodded.

“Glad you feel that way. And I think it is the right way to look at it. When the General gave us the news, I at first thought I would not only have to stay through your deployment, but possibly another if my company came back again in 6 months. I was looking at another 10 months here. So frankly I am glad to go home.”

Captain Vinceenes nodded. “Sir, I think I can speak for all of us in that we would much rather you stayed as our commanding officer. You have taught us a lot and you gave us a chance to prove ourselves. A lot of others would not have. You backed off in the last few weeks letting us fully command; showing you respected us. That means a great deal to me personally, sir.” 

Captain Adams agreed. “I was very close to calling it quits, Sir. But now I will not. And that is because of you. I wish you were staying but you earned going back having to put up with all of that mess to get us back to being a real Unit instead of a bunch of failures in uniform.”

Captain Lawson echoed that. “Sir, I learned more in the last 2 months from you about flying then I learned in the last 3 years. I am a much better pilot and officer due to your teaching and example. I was ashamed to be a member of this unit even before the scandal; now I am not.”

Liz blushed slightly but smiled brightly.  
“Thank you all very much. I can assure you that if you keep up your present performance, you will continue to do very well. On a side note, I can also assure you and the other pilots that my evaluations of you will be good to very good. Not one pilot will receive a bad grade, as long as they do not screw up the last month I am in command.”

Captain Vinceenes smiled broadly.  
“If I may tell the rest of them that, it will ease a lot of them as regards staying. Of course the new commander will also give us evaluations at the end of the deployment, but it is yours that will carry more weight in the end. No one is going to take anyone else’s word on how good a pilot is over yours.” 

Liz blushed harder. “Sometimes my reputation does come in handy.”

Liz was glad to see that the Apache Battalion was ok with things. Then she visited the others and they were not as happy, but she saw signs that they would be ok. They all agreed that losing her was the worst part of the deal.

The Taliban that was left in the area kept a very low profile; but farther south the situation in Northern Helmand Province and Northern Kandahar Province had heated up. A sustained campaign at the border had pushed a number of surviving Taliban up north. Kandahar City had improved but it was still a problem. The SF had kept up a continuing fight with them for over two years; they had made things better but it was a tough process. Which necessitated another meeting.

Liz came in the Aviation commander and the SF commander to find the Theatre Commander, His Deputy, and the UK senior officer in the country.

The Theatre Commander got right to the point.  
“For the foreseeable future, this area is secured. The Taliban have been shattered. So we need to move the forces where they are needed. That means Kandahar, and Helmand Province. We want to move all the Apache’s and most of the Black Hawks to Bastion. We will leave the Kiowas and two companies of the Black Hawks. That and the SF aircraft will be sufficient. We move in two days. There is an opportunity here to use available air power to take it to the Taliban.”

The Aviation commander then took over.  
“I am also delaying the redeployment of your company, Major Parker. The 160th SOAR has agreed to deploy your Company B with its aircraft; since the final company of your Battalion has become operational in the last week, it will stay and see to the standup of Company A of the 2nd Battalion. Two Companies will be kept operational in theatre. But the delay will only be an extra month. When you Leave C Company will take your place. That way there will be one veteran company in place while a new company comes in.”

Liz left the meeting somewhat put out; she made it a point to call the 160th SOAR commander. She had been told none of this and she WAS the Battalion Commander. 

He explained to her that the decision caught him by surprise as well. He had been told the day before. He thought that it happened because of C Company becoming operational earlier than expected. The choppers for A company, 6th Battalion, as it was technically known, had finished arriving this week. B Company would be arriving with its choppers by air in several C-17’s, next week. B Company had been training both C and A companies in their choppers; then in theirs and C companies. So they were ready. Will would not arrive until just before Liz left so as to not step on her toes. B Company would go straight to Bastion. B would do 4 months; as they all would. With 6 companies they could keep 2 on and 4 off; deploy for 4 months out of 12. 

Liz did not like the decisions forced on them from above, but bowed to the inevitable and headed to tell her people. She went to operations and found most of them waiting; word had spread something was up.

“OK, people change 3. We will move to FOB Bastion in 2 days. I got extended one month and they are bringing in my second company as well. They will be there in 2 days as well, straight from the states. So that makes 5 Companies of Apache’s. Most of the Black Hawks are coming with us. The idea is to take it to the Taliban there like we did here. So Start PACKING NOW.”

It was hectic but they did get there in two days; luckily Bastion had built some real hangers and so they were able to keep the Apache’s in their bubbles, which they brought with them. The Brits came and looked at them as did the Dutch, and began to do the same.

Captain “Donut” Anderson had just gotten his promotion and was commander of Company B. He was a somewhat happy go lucky type and got along with Liz just fine; B Company seemed to be ready to rock; but Liz had them in and put them through the mill to be sure. Their answers were pretty good; and Liz had been sending mission reports back to the 160th SOAR and they had been reading them. Two days after the move they had a meeting with the British Commander of Bastion, with the RAF commander, SAS commander and the ground pounder commanders. They were of course different than the ones that had been there when Liz had been; but were cut of the same cloth. The two main ground units were 5th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland; and 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment; and also the 2nd Battalion of the Parachute Regiment. To Liz, it was simplified to the 5th Scots, 1st Irish, and the 2nd Para’s. The 4th Regiment, Army Air Corps, Apaches were also present; supposedly 16 of them. If everyone was operational that would make a total of 56 Apache’s. Which was where the real purpose of the meeting was.

The British Commander was straightforward.  
“The Taliban have been battered to impotence in the East; and just about everywhere else in the country is on the run or hiding. This area is the last one where they are still fighting. If we can stamp on them NOW that will be a huge blow they might never recover from; and even if they do it buys the Coalition time to strengthen the Afghan government and security forces. We have an unprecedented amount of aviation firepower at the ground support level; we need to take advantage of that. Since it is a mixed force, the RAF commander will exercise overall command of all forces. The main idea it to hit them is as many places as possible in as short a time as possible. To break them here.”

He went on to sketch out the overall mission. The US Marines and their forces would be taking care of the area to the west; the UK forces would take care of everything North and South; east was mostly pacified. In an area about 200 miles north to south and 50 miles east to west, was concentrated the areas of contention. Targets were shown on a large map; there were over 50. Each represented a village or small town that had a significant Taliban presence. The Goal was to hit all of them in one month; more than once if necessary. They would all be air assaults so as to give the Taliban as little warning as possible. The reinforced Black Hawk and Apache forces would be used to the utmost.

He finished with this:  
“It is not likely we will have an opportunity like this again. When the forces and situation are all concentrated in a relatively small area. The aviation situation will be clarified in the meeting following this. The Ground and Para commanders will be meeting to decide the priority of targets. Then the two groups will meet to finalize the campaign plan.” 

So they split off into two groups with the Commander leaving.  
Liz, the RAF commander and the 4th Regiment commander in one and the SAS and the ground units in the other.

The RAF Commander spoke first.  
“Major Parker, since you were designated the Brigade XO and operational commander, the overall US helicopter command coordination is up to you. Your Apache’s and Black Hawks will form the majority of the helicopter assets. I realize that it is a lot for one person, even one with your record. I would recommend that the Major in command of the Black Hawks get together with our Major Alexander who commands our transport assets and they see if they can work things out together.”

Liz nodded. “I have no problem with that; I will be busy enough as it is. Major Harkness is a good man and he should be able to get along with your Major Alexander. If he doesn’t, I will kick him out and let Major Alexander take control.”

The RAF Commander blinked at that. “Well, that is certainly quite fair.”  
He then moved on.  
“I mean no slight to Major Wilkinson here, but I believe that overall command and coordination of the Apache’s should be yours.”

Clearly this had been discussed before as the Major quickly assented.  
“This is my first tour in Afghanistan as a commander. Major Parker’s record is very impressive. And hers will be the majority of the Apache’s here. Command of them clearly belongs in one person, the most qualified person here.”

“Thank you, Major Wilkinson. I will only be here for 2 months, before I leave. At that time I will recommend that you take over coordination as long as the Apaches are concentrated here. We need continuity if this is to work.”

The RAF Commander was very satisfied with this arrangement and quickly ended the meeting to see if the ground pounders had managed to figure anything out.

Needless to say no real agreement had come; the sides had basically been the Para’s and SAS vs the Ground Regiments. They took time out and Liz got ahold of Major Harkness and had him show up while the RAF Commander had gotten his Major Alexander to come as well. Liz took a moment to talk alone to the RAF Commander.  
“Has the tension between the RAF and the SAS gotten any better?”

Ruefully he shook his head. “Not much; they are still like dogs who do not like each other. It is a pain.”

Liz thought for a moment; then looked at him.  
“As much as possible let’s put them in our Black Hawks. They are used to SF and the like so they probably will get along with them better without the history those two have with each other.” 

“Agreed.”

Majors Harkness and Alexander arrived and were informed of the arrangement and seemed to be willing to get along. Liz looked at the two groups still not agreeing and sighed. She looked at the RAF Commander.  
“I can see why the Base Commander made himself scarce.”

“Quite.”

Deciding to see if she could break the deadlock she walked up to the 4 commanders.  
“Gentlemen, let us leave who gets what up to chance. We have the targets; let us put the names of all 50 in a hat and have each draw; one after the other; until all the targets are drawn.”

They looked startled, then thoughtful, and then one by one agreed. 

Liz went to the board where very conveniently all targets were identified with a four digit character and number and took them off; the RAF Commander had his hat ready and she put them in the hat. She then looked at the four.  
“Draw in order of who has been here the longest at Bastion.” 

In only 10 minutes it was done. Liz looked at the commander. “Are there any really high priority targets or are they all pretty much similar?”

“Intelligence has not really ranked them in any way that matters; and how important they are could shift over time.”

“OK. So each commander looks at his list and decides the priority on his own. Then we look at each one and decide how much force will be needed. And schedule it accordingly; doing as many each day as we can. And this way there will be no pattern that the Taliban or anyone else will be able to figure out. Of course if new intel comes in making one or another target suddenly important we can adjust.”

The RAF Commander looked at the four. “Any objections?” There were none.  
“Very well; then I would say the four of you need to get with your staffs and figure out what you want done and when. Then once you do we will have a big meeting with all concerned parties and plan the campaign in detail.”

Liz decided she wanted to talk to Major Wilkinson more about his two squadrons, and they went off to eat lunch at the Main Mess hall.

“So how long have you been in command?”

“One month before they deployed, their commander was in an automobile accident; he will be laid up for several more months. I was just about to take over the same command in 3 Regiment; so they pulled me here.”

“And the unit has been here how long?”

“2 months.”

“How are they doing?”

“656 Squadron is quite good; 664 not quite as good.” 

“What is the problem?”

“Not sure; just possibly some substandard pilots. Their Squadron Commander, Major Williston, believes that do to their green situation, they will get better. But so far I have not seen it.”

“656 is very good, you said?”

“Yes. Their commander, Major Hyde-White, has them working very well. In the cases of the two squadrons here, neither commander is flying. Too much administrative detail.”

“I can sympathize; it is a constant battle to wade through it; though I am lucky in one respect that I am not formally in command so a lot of the paperwork tends to get lost somewhere.”

He grinned. “Your waste can must fill rapidly.”

“ya. Two or three times a day.”

“One thing everyone who has flown an Apache has wondered is just how much of a difference between the Super Apache and the Longbow.”

“Wow. Where to begin? First the airframe is all titanium; so that took a huge amount of weight off. The engines are new; 15% more power than the old ones; which makes them about 10% more powerful than even yours. There are other things that have been done to cut weight, so that allows us to carry a lot more. The new wings; well you have seen them. We can carry four auxiliary tanks that are more aerodynamic while still having a full combat load with the new weapons pods. They are fully articulated with the stick; and can be adjusted to give us advantageous firing angles. The Avionics are like something out of Star Wars; they are that advanced. The Fenestron tail really helps cut down on that weight and air drag. It’s electric so it does not bleed off power from the engines. We can air refuel; I could go on but you get the point.”

He looked dazed. “Good lord. We had all heard things but no one really knew; until you actually deployed no one had an idea at all about the new one. It was a very well-kept secret.”

“It was a Black Project; like the initial stealth bomber; like the SR 71 before it. And since it still is technically an AH-64 Apache they were able to bury it as just a Special Ops version of the Apache; like the Pave Low and some others have been. So yeah it did come as a shock when they arrived at Campbell. But once again most just thought it was a special ops version with some changes like a different tail and different avionics. Only those that get a close up look at one realizes just how advanced it is. And till you actually fly it you would not realize what it can do.”

“I think every current and former Apache pilot in the world wants to.”

The media had been slow to realize that the new Apache was so advanced; and really had few details. But they had been able to get some good pictures of them at Kandahar, and by digging and sniffing around had been able to get an idea.

Finally, a CNN reporter decided he had enough to talk about it on air.  
“Tonight’s report from Afghanistan focuses on the new so called Super Apache flown by the 160th SOAR, the Army’s special operations aviation Regiment. The first operational company, A company of the 5th Battalion, started operations in Kandahar in November. This company, commanded by the famous Major Elizabeth Parker, has as expected distinguished itself. The Army refuses to comment on Special Operations, so they only admit that it is an advanced special Operations version of the AH-64, though experts after having viewed the best photographs available, say it is more than that. The cost is rumored to be twice that of an AH-64D Longbow, the current version fielded by the US Army regular units. The experts are unanimous in saying that it is more than an improved version; several flat out state it is virtually a brand new helicopter. Just how much better is in question. But at the very least they believe it flies faster farther and higher with more weapons than the previous version. Other than that, no one knows as of yet. Many will be interested to see just how good they are.”

Liz called a meeting of the NG Apache’s and both Companies of her battalion. They did it in the hanger as it was about the biggest building they could find that they could secure. All pilots, copilots and crew chiefs, which came to 120 personnel.   
“OK. We will start missions tomorrow. At this time it will probably be strictly day operations. However depending on how things look, I might have one of the platoons from A or B Company stay ready for night response; we will see. But I can tell you this; it is a virtual certainty that we will be doing multiple missions a day. Might even try and do three a day. We are going to launch a campaign to take the Taliban down hard here; the last place in Afghanistan where they are still openly fighting. Instead of a debrief after every mission, we might only do one a day after all the missions are over. We will have to be flexible people.”

The 4 ground units had been furiously working to get their proposals ready; and by 1600 that afternoon were ready. So another big meeting was held.

Liz brought the three majors with her to this meeting. It had been pretty well established that she would speak for the Aviation side of things at this meeting.

It was decided that the first day they would just do 4 missions; all in the morning; and then that afternoon assess the situation. Then the following day go for more. Liz had looked at the locations and none were more than 125 miles from Bastion; so she would not have to use too many auxiliary fuel tanks. Probably just two. She was looking at using her Apache’s for the longest range missions or the ones that looked the hardest. After some more talk with Major Wilkinson, she was of the mind to have the NG Apache’s work mostly with the Scots and Irish; while she and her people took the SAS; and let Major Wilkinson and his Apache’s deal with the Para’s. Her people would also tackle night missions that the SAS might be thinking about; and any night responses. After a quick conversation with him that indicated he was OK with it; she put forth that when the mission allotment of Apache’s were brought up.

“The two largest units are the Irish and Scots; so I think the NG Apache’s should work with them. Major Wilkinson indicates he can handle what the Para’s want to do; so the 160th Apache’s will work with the SAS; and we will also take any night missions or responses that come up; we do have the best equipment to work at night. Are there any objections to that?” No one seemed to have a problem with the decision, so they moved on. The first 4 missions would go out; Liz decided that her company would go with the SAS and B Company would be that night’s response force. They would switch off each night for that duty. It was also understood that Major Wilkinson’s Apache’s would probably be the one group that would have more assets then needed; while the NG might be stretched; so if that was the case then unless it was a night mission he would take over for which ever mission the 160th might do if they were fully engaged and the relieved platoon would reinforce the NG. As regards transport; it was agreed that the NG Black Hawks would support the Scots and Irish; and the SAS. The rest of the rather thin British transport force would take care of the Para’s; and any resupply needed. 

The first missions of both the Irish and the Scots were not far off but fairly large operations; the three captains for the NG Apache’s agreed to split their forces down the middle and give half to each; with one captain playing second fiddle. So that would send 12 Apache’s with each force. The Para’s operation would also be bigger than the SAS operation so one squadron would go with them and the other would handle any responses that day; leaving B company to take care of any night responses. Liz was looking to try and give each company or squadron at least one light day every three or four days if possible; it would give the crew rest and allow the maintenance people to catch up.

Liz’s company was the first to go since the SAS wanted to make a dawn assault. They hit their target just before first light and the SAS were into the village like locusts. Liz had not seen any shooting until they got halfway in; total surprise. It turned into an easy mission with no SAS casualties. They did take a prisoner; they apparently got a mid-level Taliban leader. When Liz got back the other missions were just taking off; all were due to hit about 1000. So she brought her people in for a quick debrief.   
The first set of missions went off with no serious casualties and no damage to any choppers. So far so good. The SAS wanted to do another mission that afternoon and Liz agreed; B Company wanted to go so they went out at 1400 to do a quick one at one of the smaller villages; it turned out to be a bust as it was deserted except for a few civilians who just huddled down. Liz then agreed to make A company that night’s response force. As it turned out they got a good night’s sleep. The next morning it was decided to go for a maximum effort and both morning and afternoon missions were scheduled; and since none of that days missions were all that big, they split the Apache’s virtually down the middle so that no one had to fly two missions that day.  
B Company took the mornings SAS mission; A company the afternoons and B Company would be the response force. The morning missions went well; but the afternoon missions were tougher. The SAS found a hornet’s nest and Liz found herself right down there with them.

It was a more isolated village than the others; and was thought to possibly be an arms center. And it thus turned out to be. Liz had pushed to let her Apache’s come in as diversions and to draw fire and soften them up, and it was agreed. And there was a fair amount to do.  
She brought the whole company down low and right to the village while the SAS hit them from the rear; the Taliban had some 12.7’s set up and they got taken out; a couple of real brave (or stupid ones) stood up to try their luck with RPG’s and got blasted to bits. Liz kept them at about 500 feet which would make any shots from a RPG unlikely to have the power to reach them. She could hear a few plinks as AK bullets hit; they were meaningless. Behind her Slinger was following with 2nd platoon; cleaning up any they missed. The SAS was moving quickly through the village, having the Taliban between two jaws of a vise, ensured that the battle did not last long. 20 minutes after it began, it was over.

No apparent serious wounds for the SAS made it a good mission, Liz thought on the way back.

The days tally was no one killed, no helicopters of any kind with any serious damage, and all 8 targets hit. A very good day, Liz thought. They had enough time to do a good debrief from all commanders and it was agreed that tomorrow they would keep up the pace. Once again it was a quiet night and the SAS wanted another dawn raid the next morning so Liz made sure her A company people hit their tents early.

The next SAS mission was a long range one, or somewhat, being just about 130 miles away. They took off at 0500 and hit it at just after 0600; just like before Liz brought hers in low and got the Taliban looking one way while the SAS took them from the rear. They did not have anything other than a few RPG’s which while they did get a couple off, were unable to reach the Apaches hovering at 500 feet and at least 1000 feet from them. None of them lived long enough to fire a second one. And they had none to fire at the SAS as they swept through the village in only 15 minutes. No casualties at all. They made it back to the Base by 0800. Liz got a chance to speak to the NG captains – this time only two of the companies would be going while the third rested. Things seemed to be going well there; they seemed to have a good rapport with the Scots and the Irish.

Intel had theorized that the Taliban, once it became clear a full campaign was ongoing, would try and strike back at some of the patrol camps. So Major Wilkinson had one of his squadrons hold back that day while the other took the mission; one stayed and one went morning and afternoon.

IT was on the fourth day that the Taliban began to try and respond; and Major Wilkinson had the 664 sent out to respond to calls for support. Four separate bases reported attacks; so flights of 2 went to each. B company had gone out that morning; A company staying. Liz listened in the operations building as it was clear the Taliban was trying but not doing very well. 664 seemed to be up to the job.

That afternoon the SAS were a little frustrated as they hit an empty target again. When they got back Liz found Major Wilkinson waiting for her. He took her into his office and closed the door.

“The Irish have a Patrol base about 40 miles out that was attacked this morning; a flight from 664 responded and reported there was very little for them to do. But the commander of the Irish just talked to me; a report from the Patrol Base painted a very different picture; they stood off and threw a few 30MM rds and did very little else. The pilots claimed there were civilians there and the Patrol Base says otherwise. I had a meeting with the 664 Commander and he backs up his people. But the problem is that he was not there and the Patrol Base report is very specific.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“At the moment there is nothing you can do; but I wanted to warn you that this will probably escalate. Frankly, my hunch is that we have some duds in that squadron; the flight that went today has had a couple of times where it was alleged they used the civilians as an excuse to do nothing. I think you should quietly warn your pilots to keep their eyes and ears open. I need more than I have right now to push this.”

Liz sighed; this could get really ugly. “OK, I will let them know. Frankly if it continues and there is nothing you can really do, we can probably switch them out with some of my people or the NG guys. Have 664 do more of the mission support where since it is done by the Squadron or Company, a couple of duds do not make much difference.”

“That has occurred to me; and if any more of this happens I will go along with making sure that 664 does not do any close response missions.”

Liz decided to just bring in the pilots only on this; she held a meeting that evening at the hanger.  
“OK, people I want this to be very clear. What I say here goes no farther than the people right here. You do NOT tell your copilots or anyone else. I think probably everyone has heard stories about 664 squadron; that some of them are not exactly motivated. Well I want to know about anything you see or hear. But you tell me and no one else. Are we understood?”

This very serious and very hard Liz was a rare one; but they all knew better than to question her. So they just nodded.

The next day they hit the halfway point on their missions and just over; in 5 days they had hit 28 of the targets. That night the weather got bad and the word came out there would be no flying for the next day; but that it would be clear the day after. So on the 6th day everyone rested and caught up on paperwork. Liz met with each company one at a time for a review and a gripe session if necessary.

B Company had hit the ground running and Liz was glad to see they were doing well. These missions were not very difficult, really, and thus they were being eased into things.

The NG companies were doing very well; they had improved tremendously over the last two months. The A models had some limitations that nothing could be done about, and they were old, but since the maintenance people had gotten the parts they needed, operational status was still over 90%. Very good. They also seemed to get along very well with the Scots and Irish, and that was good, too.

She would have been embarrassed to have heard some of the things discussed, though; when the units had mixed at some times when they had been off duty.

Captain Vinceenes had been talking with a company commander and his LTs after getting back from a mission.

“All we heard is what the reporters said; what really happened?”

“Every single one of our Battalion commanders and all but two of the XO’s were relieved; and the Brigade commander and his XO as well. They have not yet figured out just which ones were in on the thefts; I think only a few actually; the Brigade CO and XO, the Brigade Maintenance Chief and his XO for certain and maybe a couple of others. The rest were buddies and drop cases that were brought in to provide them with cover. Now as regards at home, there were more. The State Commander, his XO, and a good part of his staff. The lack of spare parts hurt us real bad; and the lousy Battalion commanders were another huge factor; and the games they played with buddies and favorites. That sure ended fast when Major Parker took over. Technically she was supposedly just the acting brigade XO, but for all intents and purposes she rebuilt and ran the brigade. She really fixed things with the Apache’s. Of course this wasn’t the first time she has had to fix busted units. She sure is good at it. As a pilot I have not seen any better; and as an officer the same. She will back you if you are in the right; and she backs down from nobody. Her call sign of Doberman is dead on. Screw with her and she will tear your throat out.”

The next day the pace picked up again. 6 targets were hit; the Irish and Scots hit two targets each and the SAS and Para’s one. And once again no one badly wounded and minor damage to any choppers at best. The next day Liz had another dawn mission with the SAS and they hit a somewhat bigger target; and wanted to hit it as quietly as possible so for once they wanted her to hold back; then appear once they were engaged. Liz found it hard hanging back; but she managed to do as requested. She brought the Apache’s in from the two sides that the SAS had not come in from and in that respect surprised the Taliban some. The typically aggressive SAS tactics had the Taliban quickly retreating; and moving targets are easy to find. So the Apaches were doing some serious plinking. The SAS got out with only two moderately wounded men and two slightly wounded men; they did deign to call in the MEDEVAC. No choppers were damaged.

They got back at 0900 and found the others about to leave. Liz had a quick conversation with Major Wilkinson; he was because of a couple of maintenance issues having to use 656 for the escort duties with the Para’s that day; 664, down to 4 serviceable ships due to some bad spare parts, would need most of the morning to get back up to full strength. Liz told him she would have her crew chiefs rearm immediately. Liz went to her office and started on some paperwork; and got a lot of it done before eating lunch at noon. She went by the Brits and they were still working on the 4 Apache’s. Probably would not get them done until late in the day. A company had night duty that day anyway. They had been very lucky; only once had they gone out at night and that had been B Company; and it had not been a hard mission.

At 1400 she heard some commotion and went out of her office; she could see some of the men of 664 scrambling. Something about that just looked off, she was not sure what it was, maybe that they looked disorganized. She watched at their 4 serviceable Apache’s took off to support two Patrol Bases that were under attack. She went to control and found Wilkinson looking worried. She went up to him.  
“How bad?”

“Looks like the Taliban are serious; I think this is something they think they have to do; we have really been tearing them apart the last week.”

Liz nodded slowly. “What if I take up my company just in case?”

He looked relieved and she headed off to get her people in gear. It took half an hour to get them all and another 15 minutes to get into the air. She sent Slinger off to one and she took the other; they were both about 50 miles out. All the other missions had arrived back not long before. As they headed out Liz began to get a bad feeling; she let the rest of them know.  
“Doberman to 1st platoon; Guys I am getting a bad feeling; let’s move; balls to the wall!”

“Roger that” came the chorus. They by now knew to take her hunches very seriously. 

Moving at full speed, they were at the area in 15 minutes.  
Liz changed her frequency to the one the British Apache’s used.  
“664, this is Hell Dog Lead. What is your situation?”

“664 to Hell Dog Lead, situation is confused; not able to understand the ground.”

Liz cursed quietly. There had been some problems with the radios some of the units had. One other advanced feature of the Super Apache was a very good radio that could be fine-tuned to a chosen frequency. Liz had had the one used by the local ground units programed into her ship; she now turned it to that frequency. It was the Scots on the ground she called.   
“Hell Dog Lead to Patrol base Jonas; what is your situation?”

“Patrol Base Jonas to Hell Dog; we need assistance; 664 is not responding. We have a critical Whiskey India Alpha. Need cover and MEDEVAC.”

“ROGER THAT, Patrol Base Jonas.”

Liz immediately called the base; the bad news was that it would be at least 15 minutes for a MEDEVAC to take off and that meant about 40-50 minutes for them to get there.

Liz just knew that was too long. “Patrol Base Jonas, where are you now?”

“Patrol Base Jonas, one klick bearing 325 from base in a small farm; we are surrounded.”

“Roger, we are on our way.”

Liz took them to the point and recognized the farm; Taliban were all around it for certain.  
“Doberman to Hannibal; take the east while we take the west. Lay down some serious fire.”

“Roger That.”

Liz took Octopus and they began to let go of 2.75 rockets and saturated the area about 100 meters from the farm house. After they fired Liz contacted them.  
“Hell Dog Lead to Patrol Base Jonas, what is your situation?”

“Patrol Base Jonas to Hell Dog Lead; that took care of most of them. What about MEDEVAC?”  
“40 MIKES Patrol Base Jonas.”

“Hell Dog Lead, he does not have that much time.”

Liz thought furiously. This was crazy but…   
“Doug, would you like to spend a little time on the ground watching how they do things?”

“Liz you are nuts. But I am game.”

“When I land get in there and tell them I can take the man and a medic if they are squished in the front seat.”

“Doberman to everyone; I am going to land and drop off Doug; then pick up the wounded man and a medic and take him in. Hannibal you stick around and keep an eye on things.”

“Roger that, Doberman”

Liz took her Apache right to the house, only about 50 feet away and landed fast and hard. Doug was out of the bird in a flash running to the house.

Two heavily armed figures met him at the door.  
“My pilot can take a medic and the wounded in her front seat while I say behind. Will this work?”

“Christ!” and they ran into the house with Doug on their heels. He was glad to see that the wounded man was not very big and neither was the Medic. They had him resting on a door they had taken off the hinges.

“This crazy yank wants to take you and Jones in the front seat of the Apache!”

“He won’t make it if we have to wait for the MEDEVAC. Let’s go!”

Doug picked up one end of the door and one of the other men tossed his rifle to another and picked up the other and they headed out.

The other three Apaches were slowly circling the farmhouse at about 200 feet up; making lots of noise.

It took less than a minute to get the wounded man in the front seat; the Medic scrunched in beside him, holding up a plasma bag. They could not be strapped in so Doug just closed the hatch and signaled Liz.

Liz took off and oriented her Apache for maximum lift and speed; Doug had put his helmet on the medic so he could talk to Liz.

“My name is Alex Harris; Jones here is hit in the stomach; he is bleeding badly. How long to the base?”

“Call me Liz, hang on because I am going to floor it! Probably 15 minutes.”

“That might be fast enough.”

Liz was redlining the Apache, she had her wide open.

“I am going to patch you through to the hospital; give me a minute.”

“Hell Dog Lead to Base; have a wounded Scot and his medic; need to talk to the hospital ASAP”

“Base to Hell Dog Lead; 5 MIKES.”

And indeed 5 minutes later  
“This is Doctor Smythe; come in Hell Dog Lead.”

“OK, Alex, go ahead.”

“Dr Smythe, I have a 21 year old man; hit in the left lower quadrant; giving plasma; estimate loss at 30%. It is a through and through. Last BP was 76 over 55 10 minutes ago, pulse 86, respiration 15 and shallow, cyanotic. Blood type is Alpha Negative.”

“Got that. Keep squeezing the plasma bag. What is your time to get here?”

“Dr Smythe, this is the pilot. We will be at your front door in 10 minutes; but stay inside I am coming in very hot and there will be a lot of dust flying.”

“We will be waiting.”

True to her word Liz got there in 10 minutes; she came in at a high angle; dumping speed and blowing dust like nobody’s business as she sat the Apache down not 50 feet from the door. Not exactly where MEDEVACS were supposed to land but time was critical and every second counted.

The dust had barely cleared as Liz set her down. She was out in a flash, she just cut the engines, and she had the hatch open before they got out the door. But by the time she had helped the medic get out, holding the plasma bag, they were there. They had him out in 2 seconds and on the gurney going in.

Modern high tech Helicopter engines do not like sudden shut downs; Liz knew this so she was very careful starting them back up. It took her almost 10 minutes then she was back in the air and shooting back to pick up her copilot.

Liz did not push as hard going back so it took almost 25 minutes to get there; she found the rest of her platoon still circling.  
“Doberman to Hannibal, what is the situation?”

“Hannibal to Doberman; very quiet. We have checked the perimeter.”

“Roger that.”

“Hell Dog Lead to Patrol Base Jonas. How are things there?”

“Patrol Base Jonas to Hell Dog Lead, you can have him back. We don’t want him.”

“I guess I have to take him then; will be down in 5 mikes.”

And then she picked her Copilot back up.  
He gave her the situation.  
“This was a 20 man patrol the Taliban tried to take out. They were real lucky to have only one man wounded. They are moving back towards their base; will take about half an hour if we give them cover.”

“We can do that.”

“Hell Dog Lead to Patrol Base Jonas; head for home we will cover you all the way.”

“Patrol Base Jonas to Hell Dog Lead, we are grateful and heading out now.”

As they got out of the farm and to the road, Liz and the rest of her Platoon slowly circled them; diving down to any place that looked suspicious and pulling up; another covering. They darted and moved unexpectedly. Liz had gone over this with all of them on how to keep anyone watching hiding and too scared to do anything.

The Lt leading the patrol watched as the Apache’s dove and swirled and made threatening moves all around them. He turned to his sergeant.  
“Those yanks do know how to put on a show.”

“Yes Sir. Don’t think anyone will be bothering with us.”

And 45 minutes later Liz saw them pull into their base; a small village abandoned by its people.

“Hell Dog Lead to Patrol base Jonas, have a nice day.”

“Patrol Base Jonas to Hell Dog Lead, just leave. You make too much noise. We want to get some sleep.”

“Roger that, Hell Dog Lead out.”

Liz on the way back asked Hannibal if they had seen any trace of the 664, and was told not a bit. Liz chewed on that all the way back. Doug was definite.  
“They think that 664 bunch are not worth much. They do not buy into the crap about not being able to read them.”

“I agree. But the fact is that the ground has had radio problems; and the Brit Apache’s do not have this shiny radio that can do so many tricks. But they certainly came in clear.”

“And they could hear you clear as well. Five by Five.”

They got back to the base just before dark. Major Wilkinson was waiting for her as was the RAF Commander. They pulled her into the Major’s office. The RAF commander was blunt.  
“You had no trouble reading the ground radio.”

“No sir but then this radio is top of the line.”

“I am getting one of their models and we are going to check out the radio on that Apache. If it comes in clear that Pilot is getting relieved now.”

Liz nodded and watched them stride off. She sighed and went to the operations room. The rest of her company was there.  
“No word yet from the hospital.”

Liz nodded. “Slinger, how was your end?”

“They needed some help but were working pretty good. Those two seem to be fine.”

Liz nodded. “The two on my end – if that radio checks out then it is very bad.”

Liz decided to head over to the hospital. She got in and found the medic in the waiting room.  
“Any word?”

“Nothing so far, Major.”

Liz nodded and sat down beside him. She took a deep breath and looking around, seeing nothing  
“The RAF commander is checking out that Apache’s radio right now, they claim they could not read you.”

The medic was quiet for a moment. “My sweet ass they couldn’t. They didn’t want to. This is not the first time that pair has pulled this. Most of that squadron are good cobbers; but there are a few that are right cowards.”

He looked at Liz. “We heard you loud and clear. And you heard us the same.”

“Well, they have a pretty fancy radio on my model. And you guys have had radio problems.”

“At a distance, not close up.” 

At that point the door opened and a tired looking doctor came out; Liz and Alex stood up and went to him.  
“It was very close; another 10, maybe 15 minutes and we would have lost him. He is still in very serious condition but the bleeding has been stopped and his blood pressure is steady. All vital signs are slowly rising. He should make it.”

Liz sat down slowly and relaxed. Just relaxed for a while. The medic sat down and also just relaxed. Finally Liz got up.  
“Going to head over to operations and give that Patrol Base the good news.”

The medic nodded. “I need to find a bunk; then arrange transport back tomorrow."

“We will get you back tomorrow, don’t worry about it. As far as a bunk is concerned that should be no problem either. Come on.”

Liz walked into the radio room and told the controller to contact Patrol Base Jonas and tell them their wounded soldier would make it. Then she took the medic to their tent area and told one of the ground crew to take care of the medic; then headed to her office. On the way there she ran into Major Wilkinson. He looked grim. 

“That trooper will make it” Liz said to him. That seemed to cheer him up some.

“Well that is the first bit of good news I have had today. We checked out that radio on the Apache and the ground radio reached it no problem. We got in a vehicle and went almost a click and no problem; then to the base boundary which is almost 2 and no problem. The RAF Commander is right now talking to the Squadron Commander. He is going to order their relief.”

Liz sighed. “No matter what this will get ugly.”

“Yes it will. But you saved that young soldier; and that is what matters.” 

When she got back to their area, the other pilots had gathered. Clearly the word had spread. Liz was quick to stamp on the speculation.  
“We do not talk about this. Not to anyone. Nothing good can come of it.”

The RAF Commander was in a tense meeting with the Base Commander. He was not happy.  
“You do realize that a RAF officer demanding the relief for cause of an Army Aviation crew is not going to be well received upstairs?”

“Sir, there is no choice. Leaving aside the other charges, the fact that he clearly lied about being able to receive the transmissions of the Patrol Base demands that he be severely disciplined. And the fact that the Ground Forces are going to be making considerable noise about this incident as well makes it mandatory that this be quickly dealt with.”

The Base Commander sat back and grimaced. He was of course correct about the lying charge; and almost certainly at least mostly correct about the rest. And the impact of not relieving that crew was not to be thought of; as well as the other crew that had done nothing at all. He had heard comments about part of the 664; and he had discussed the problem with the RAF commander and the 664’s commander, who had fully supported his crews. That was another part of the problem; 664’s commander had seemed very unwilling to take any action at all. The sad part was that the other half of 664 seemed to be quite good.

“I cannot disagree about action being needed immediately; therefore I am agreeing to their suspension from duty pending a full investigation. Another worry is how is this going to affect the rest of 664? Can we really continue to ask other units to rely on any of them? And then there is the question of the 664’s commander and his unwillingness to do anything, which has certainly contributed to the problem.”

“Sir, there really is no choice; the whole Squadron must be stood down. Fortunately, most of the targets have been hit with very good results; we can take care of the rest of them easily with the forces on hand.”

“Sadly I agree; the 664 is grounded until further notice.”

After the RAF commander left, the Base Commander sighed and made arrangements to speak directly to the MOD. This was going to have far reaching consequences no matter what. 

The next day the assault continued; no one talked about the 664 or their absence. The SAS as usual had a dawn assault and as usual Liz took her company with them; the Scots and Irish did theirs, each with a company of the NG; and 656 went with the Para’s. They were all straightforward affairs; once again the Village the SAS hit was virtually empty; as was the one the Para’s hit. When the Scots and Irish both reported less than usual resistance there was a meeting held at 1400.

Once again the Base commander, RAF commander, Liz and Major Wilkinson along with the commanders of the SAS, Para’s, Scots and Irish. The intelligence weenie gave his summation.

“The Taliban have all but abandoned the area over the last few days; they have gone south to Pakistan to hide out. With over 40 targets hit in a week, they have admitted defeat and pulled virtually all their remaining strength out.”

Liz managed NOT to say “duh.”

The consensus was to wait for developments; the base commander would contact the theatre commander and ask for heavy intelligence analysis and assets to determine if there was indeed no reason for more attacks.

So Liz went back and told her people that with the exception of B Company that would be on night alert for one more night; it was time to kick back and rest for a bit.

For Liz that meant tackling the paperwork that was never ending. She went into her office and got out the shovel and went to work.

Meanwhile the repercussions were starting; the RAF and Army senior members began to go at one another at the MOD. There was always friction between the three services for one reason or another; from budget fights to doctrinal differences on warfare, to conflicts about who should command where. A RAF commander demanding the relief for cause of Army aviators definitely lit things up. The additional fight between the groups demanding full control of all aviation assets also factored in. The siege guns were brought up and memo’s began to fly.

The Defense Secretary felt he had more than enough on his plate keeping the funding for the services under the current austerity situation; what with the Euro crisis and the remnants of the banking failures still lingering. Anything that put any of the services in a bad light did not help. So far they had been able to keep the media from finding out but it was just a matter of time. The worst outcome would be for the opposition to bring it up at the Prime Ministers question time. That was always heavily publicized. Which meant that he had to warn the PM so that he was not caught unawares. Especially as that weekly event was tomorrow.

The PM sighed as the Defense Secretary outlined the situation. Normally the relief of a few pilots in an army helicopter squadron would not be a matter of concern for the PM. But with the parties very close to being balanced in Parliament, and the opposition continuing to build to any involvement in Afghanistan now that the situation was under control, even what should be considered minor matters could have significant impact.

“They are trying to keep it to the charge that the pilots were lying about being able to contact the patrol base. The much worse charges of rank cowardice would make very meaty fodder for the media. I believe that the idea now is to try and force the pilots and copilots to resign or accept non flying transfers, under the condition they do not speak about it. If they do then courtmartials would convene. Given that there had been prior complaints about those pilots previously for not being aggressive enough, it would be a true feeding frenzy for the media. The situation with the Squadron Commander is also touchy; it is felt, and frankly rightly so, that he ignored the previous complaints. I would in one respect rather he remains; but all things considered he needs to go as well.”

“It is certain that they deliberately did not act?”

“I cannot see anything else explaining that. While it is true that there has been trouble with the radios, that is at a distance of 5 Kilometers or more in rough terrain. The distance there was less and the helicopters being at an altitude would have been able to hear them. Both radios of the helicopters were inspected and found to be working correctly. While the American Apache did have an improved radio, the fact that they were heard very clearly the whole time leaves very little doubt.”

“It seems to me that Major Parker has been of signal service to Her Majesties military on more than one occasion. I think it might well be time for us to recognize that.”

“I quite agree, Sir. Especially once this gets out to the media.”

There was very little debate about things at Camp Bastion. The Scots, whose man had been saved by Liz, had had bad dealings before with 664. As had the Irish. So as far as they were concerned it was overdue. And to fighting soldiers, cowardice invoked a very visceral emotion. There really was nothing more despised than a coward, unless that person was a traitor. So all in all it was a good thing that the 4 officers were whisked out of Bastion rather quickly.  
Meanwhile the commander of the Scots regiment had quietly taken it up the ladder that a commendation was due Major Parker. As the SAS had already pushed that up the ladder, it was the second recommendation for her. The SAS had also in her previous tour mentioned her in dispatches. This was brought to the attention of the DCDS who was also overall in charge of the awards of valor and commendations. He looked over the file and noted the previous recommendations. This came the day after the Question Period.

“Mr. Prime Minister, it has come to our attention that a serious situation occurred in Afghanistan where members of Her Majesties Army Aviation Corps were relieved for cause. We would like details on this.”

“The investigation is ongoing. An incident occurred that required response and the response was deemed inadequate. Therefore the reliefs for cause ensued. At this time I feel it is not one for further comment.” 

The PM was rather surprised it was not pushed. He did not have a good feeling about that.

He was right. The next day the story hit the papers that were most in sympathy with the Opposition. The Broadcast Media, somewhat put out that they had not found out about it, pounced.

That day the Defense Secretary met with his DCDS and received the recommendations for an award recognizing the acts by Major Parker. The recommendations were agreed with and forwarded to the PM.

The PM was getting pressure from his own party to make more statements about what was brewing. The impact of the situation was all out of proportion to the actual incident, but that was nothing new in politics. The Best Defense is often offense; or in this case a counter attack. He informed the Defense Secretary that he would appear and respond to further demands for details. Meanwhile he would take the recommendations to Her Majesty. Since this was a foreign officer, she had to be consulted. He brought with him the Chief of the Defense Staff.

The Queen read the recommendation; then asked to see the file and the CDS gave it to her.  
“So this is to make up for not recognizing her previous services to our Military?”

“Your majesty, that is substantially correct. She should have been commended before; why it did not reach me I have yet to determine.”

The Queen contemplated the situation.  
“The single recent act was more than sufficient for this award, is that correct?”

The CDS answered this one.   
“Yes your majesty, it was.”

“More must be done. But this award should be given now. I wish for further recommendations in the immediate future.”

“Yes, your Majesty.”   
The Defense Secretary appeared before parliament to answer questions. It had been debated and agreed that the commendation would also be announced at that time. He had also had a quiet conversation with the American SECDEF.

“This is a fairly regular occurrence for Major Parker. She will be walking lopsided before long.”

“Quite. I was astonished at the file you sent me; her record is extraordinary.”

“I have asked if this is true, and I have been told that it is, that she is the single most highly decorated officer of our military since 9/11. Now there are aviators that have a large number of Air Medals who have a few more, but none of them come close to her in the higher level of commendations.” 

“Well, then, it is high time Her Majesties government did their share. She has been very helpful and influential in ensuring the situation in Afghanistan has reached the point it has.”

“It is remarkable that an officer at that level has had so much influence.”

The SECDEF found he was no longer surprised at what Major Parker got up to; and he had been contemplating a commendation for her actions regarding the ASP situation. But anything there might stir things up best hidden. Still he made a note that she deserved some reward for getting things fixed there.

The Defense Secretary was able to get through the questions without anything bad happening. The opposition recognized that harping on it would not bring them any real advantage; especially as the government had already taken action. His announcement that Major Elizabeth Parker, US Army, would receive the DFC did indeed make news and successfully sidetracked the situation to the satisfaction of the government.

Liz, blissfully unaware of the events percolating far above, was wading through more paperwork. The evaluations of the NG officers were going to be due as soon as she left so she worked on them. And her position as Brigade XO left her in the position of reviewing all the officer evaluations of the Brigade. Which was a load. Luckily the lull continued with only resupply missions ongoing. There was beginning to be a feeling that maybe this time the Taliban was really on the ropes.

Meanwhile word spread quickly and the RAF Commander felt Liz should receive knowledge of her honor more properly then the mess hall. So he simply called her.

“Major Parker, I am glad to inform you that Her Majesties government has decided to award you the Distinguished Flying Cross for your actions in saving Corporal Jones.” 

“Wow. I am honored. Speaking of which, when will that happen?”

“Very soon I believe; the Head of the RAF will be visiting Afghanistan next week so there is a chance it will be done then.”

“Will I need my Class A uniform or will this one due?”

“It is a war zone so your BDU is fine.”

“Good.”

The PM spoke to the Defense Secretary.  
“Sir Alex Holmes, Chief of the Royal Air Force, will award several medals including Major Parkers. But I was also contacted by a member of the Queens staff with an interesting question. I believe it is pertinent especially for the Defense Ministry. The question is that since women are now fighting in combat, is it appropriate to honor one with the term Dame? Is it not for those who now stand side by side with men called Knights out of date?”

“It is an interesting question, sir. But one that will grow in importance. I despise the gender neutral term person. It reeks of political correctness. Yet for instance, and I am thinking this question comes because of the idea that has been floated for Major Parker to become an honorary member of the British Empire, calling her a dame seems inappropriate.”

“It is a question we need to research. I am sure this has been discussed at various levels. Women will be reaching higher positions in the armed services.”

“I recall some of the comments when Margaret Thatcher was being honored after leaving office that things needed to be updated. But very little was done.”

“I have been asked to form a committee on that; make sure someone from the MOD is on it.”

“I heard a term used once. Knightress. Perhaps that would work.”

“Interesting. Make sure that the representative is very competent.”

The soldier was unconscious for 3 days, and then woke up. Liz asked to be kept informed and stopped by the day after he woke up.

“Corporal, you have a visitor.”

Liz stuck her head in the door.  
“You sure look better than you did. How do you feel corporal?”

“Major, I can feel. And that beats dead anytime. Just wish I could remember what it felt like in that Super Apache. Everyone has been wondering what it would be like in it.”

“Well, if I am still around when they let you out I will take you up for a ride. Deal?”  
“Deal, Ma’am.”

Liz checked the calendar and was startled to see that it was February 5. They had only three weeks left. With the settling down of things, their rotation had been moved up a bit. C Company would be in two weeks to take over the Apaches of A company. In a way Liz would once again regret leaving, but would be overjoyed to see Max, Aliya and James. And be able to truly relax and rest. And if things kept going like they looked like, she might not be coming back. Iraq was fairly stable and quiet, and if Afghanistan became the same, then there would not be much for her to do. She realized that it would not be long before she got her promotion to Lt Colonel, and her days of flying might be just about over.

She figured she had a shot of staying in the saddle a little longer in the 160th, but the bottom line was that her active flying days were getting short. She would have to think on that when she got home.

The next day was the award ceremony. It was strange being the only American in the formation but it was fairly low key and that suited her.

With the virtual cessation of hostilities more than just a few minor incidents, it was decided to send the NG Apache’s back to Kandahar. After talking to the SF at Kandahar, it was decided to move the Super Apache’s to Bagram. There was still some work there with the SF and the tribal regions in that area. Major Wilkinson told her that 664 was being quietly pulled out and would be replaced by another Squadron if the need was seen. He doubted they would if the situation did not deteriorate badly. 

So the next week they all left Bastion. Liz was given a very particular goodbye party by the Scots where they made her an honorary member. She was sad to leave but glad to be one step closer to home.

Bagram had not changed much and Liz was actually fairly comfortable. There was only one week until C Company showed up; but she checked in with the SF to see what was going on.

The office there was the same even if the Commander was different. He remarked on that.  
“You got to know this place pretty well.”

“Yep. So any business for us?”

“Does not look like it. In addition to getting the crap kicked out of them, the weather has been worse than usual. So they have pretty much disappeared into Pakistan. Those two senior officers the ISI lost has made a difference; the Pakistan Government promoted a couple of officers known for not liking the Taliban. That will help as well. We are trying to find a target worth going in there for and so far we have come up empty.”

“Well that does not exactly break my heart.”

So the last thing Liz did was do evaluations on all the NG Apache pilots; then Company A and Company B. Company B had shaped up very well; she had no doubt they would see to it that Company C was taught right. Her last acts as Acting Brigade XO were to take care of all the paper work. The New Brigade officers had arrived and were even now working with them. She felt a great deal of satisfaction at seeing how far they had come. She flew down to Kandahar to oversee the command hand over. It amused her a little to see the new officers start to get put to the test by the vets. The ceremony was pretty good. She made a brief speech after the Aviation Commander formally called for her to perform the official change in command.

“There were jokes going around about the brigade. But they soon stopped. Now this brigade can look any other one in the US Military right in the eye and not blink. WELL DONE!”

And the brigade gave a big cheer.

Liz then turned and saluted the new commanding officer.  
“Sir, I give you the Brigade. I stand relieved.”

That evening the senior officers of the Brigade made sure Liz knew full well how much she meant to them. Captain Vinceenes got the job.

“I remember when this pint sized Major came into the building and proceeded to jack us right up. Then throw a colonel in the brig not an hour later. Frankly, she scared the shit out of us. No one doubted why she was called Doberman. Then she proceeded to pick us right up out of the gutter and made us into a military unit again. One that got its job done. When we finish this tour, we will do it with heads high. And most of that credit is to Major Parker. God Speed, Major, and may you keep right on getting it done.”  
The last day before she handed over her Apache, Liz flew down to Bastion one last time to keep a promise and take Corporal Jones up in a Super Apache. He was almost speechless. His account was on the BBC a few days later.

“One has to remember that Major Parker is really a small woman. You never think that way because she stands real tall all the time. The way she tools that Apache around has to be seen to be believed. That is a great machine; but not as good as the pilot that showed me what it was like to dance in the air.”


	15. To be or not To Be

Liz got off the Plane at Campbell and formed up Company A. It was not a big group but then this was Special Operations. The crowd waiting was not that big either, but they made up for it with volume. Then she was totally shocked when the SOCOM commander awarded her the Distinguished Service Medal. Then she was able to get herself together in time to form the Company, and then dismiss it.

Then she was in Max’s arms and her family was all around her and nothing else mattered. 

The PM informed the Defense Secretary that they needed to contact the DOD. As was usual when an American Military Officer was honored with the OBE.  
“And you can inform him that there has been a change in how things are done, at the request of Her Majesty.”

That May, two months after getting home, Liz was called into the 160th SOAR HQ to speak to the commander.  
“Major, the SECDEF just called. You will need to be in London on the 10th of June for a Ceremony at Buckingham Palace. You will also need a mess dress Class A uniform.”

Liz was really puzzled. “What is this about?”

“The Brits are honoring you with the award of the Order of the British Empire. Normally a woman getting that honor would be called a Dame. But the Queen apparently felt that soldiers should get something different. So you will be the First Knightress of the Order of the British Empire. From now on any female officer will be called a Knightress. But you will always be the first.”

Elizabeth Parker was left without a word to say. For someone just past their 30th Birthday, it had been a very full life.

Liz was very nervous. She was about to be installed as an Honorary Member of the British Empire; and the very first to use the new title, Knightress. The Queen had decided that since there were going to be in the future women that would be warriors, and leaders, that they should have a female variant of Knight in their title. There was precedent for that; Baron vs Baroness. Still Liz would always be the first to have that honorific that separated her from what the title would have been before for a woman, Dame. That would now be used for those such as actresses, etc; leaders and warriors would be a Knightress. Of course Liz could not really use it, since she was not a British Citizen. That was why it was called Honorary. And why they thought it would be ok for her to be the first in that way. Somewhere down the road a British woman would be the first OFFICIAL Knightress. But nothing could take away the honor of being first overall.

Max, Aliya, Nancy, Ted, (with Max holding James) were all there waiting in the small audience for the ceremony to begin. It was a little different than some of the others. Even though it was honorary, the Queen decided that Liz should get the traditional sword part of the ceremony, since Liz had been awarded all this for services to Her Majesties Armed forces and Subjects. Liz had the Mess Dress Class A’s today; which was different from the normal class A. There had been a truly ridiculous amount of back and forth from the Royal Family protocol people; and the US DOD. It had been debated and decided that Liz would wear her Mess Dress Long Skirt and Sword. All of which she had to have made especially for her. Then Liz took lessons on what to do with a sword; the Brits even sent an expert to Ft Campbell to instruct her on what she needed to do. This was a very new thing for the Brit Protocol wonks and it apparently threw them all for a loop. Liz had been amused for a while, but then it gradually began to dawn on her just how important this was. She as an American was becoming the first British Knightress. She herself figured that this would be an experiment and if it failed no big deal because she was a Yank. 

It had engendered a fair amount of comment from all sides. Both in the US and in England. Making her an honorary member of the British Empire was not a problem to anyone; all agreed it was well deserved. It was the Knightress part that started it off; then when it was let out that the Queen would be giving her the ceremonial part as regards the sword to the Shoulder, it all really hit the fan. It was not, except for some really old fogies, a problem with her not earning that honor. She was a warrior and no one argued with that. Just that she was an American.

One thing had come of all this; something that had been with Liz since she was old enough to understand. Her father had left her mother before she was even born. They had gotten married out of High School and Nancy had gotten pregnant soon after; and he had been terrified of this and had fled before Nancy was 7 months along. Nancy had been very lucky to get the job with the Worland City government just after Liz was born. Nancy had divorced him not long after; he had never contacted her again. Nancy had not even gotten around to changing her name; and so Liz was a Parker from her mother’s side. Tom Solange had been his name. Nancy had contacted his parents not long after and had found out that he had not told them anything. Not long after that they had died in a car crash; and they had not had any other children. Nancy’s only family had been her mother; her father had died some years earlier from a heart attack. Claudia sadly had died when Liz was 6. 

When Liz got her security clearance raised upon acceptance into the 160th, her background check had been updated. And by pure chance in a standard search they had found out Tom Solange’s fate. Got drunk and ran his car into a tree when Liz was 9. This had been placed in Liz’s file, and when reviewing it she found the information and she had informed her mother, who really had very little to say about him. But at least it was closure. 

Liz looking at her background file had been generated by a request from the Brits about her genealogy. She had out of curiosity done a bit of a search and found that she was related to John Parker, the Captain of the Lexington Militia. She gave what she knew to the Brits and they had come up with a family tree that could be traced back to the late 1400’s. She was related to the Parker that was Archbishop of Canterbury under Queen Elizabeth I. It was very interesting to her.

Apparently to the Brits as well. Part of the whole MBE part was showing your family tree. Liz figured that she had a pretty good one overall.

The negotiations (which is what Liz called them) between the DOD and the Royal Protocol bunch had decided that this would be how it went. Liz would be the last one honored. She would approach the Queen and salute with her sword; she would then sheath it and kneel; then the Queen would dub her Knightress and defender of the British Crown. Liz would stand, bow, then back away and return to her place in line. She just hoped she would not trip over the long skirt.

And she was very thankful she didn’t. Lots of pictures got taken. One difference between Mess Dress and regular Class A is that the Medals are worn; not the ribbons. And Liz had a bunch. She actually rivaled a fair number of the senior officers there. A fact remarked upon by many.

“counting them up we have the Presidential Medal of Freedom; 2 Presidential Unit Citations; the Distinguished Service Cross; the Distinguished Service Medal; the Distinguished Flying Cross for the US and for the UK; Legion of Merit; 2 Purple hearts; the Combat Action Badge; the Soldier’s Medal; and in addition 8 Air Medals.”

Nancy was so proud she could pop; Liz looked incredible in the Mess Dress Class A; with her Sword and all the medals and everything. 

Liz did one quiet visit while in the UK; she visited the HQ of the Scottish Regiment to receive honorary membership of the Regiment due to her services in Afghanistan. It was very interesting; the old building with the Flags from centuries ago and the mementos there. It was also a full dress occasion and while there she met Corporal Jones and his parents who again and again thanked her for saving their son. It was a little embarrassing for Liz; and while there she got drawn into a TV interview that was visiting the Regiment at the same time.

“Major Parker, or Knightress Parker, which do you prefer?”

“Major Parker. That seems average and ordinary and that way I can usually slip away without anyone noticing.”

“When the honor was explained to you, what was your first reaction?”

“Picking my jaw off the floor after it fell off.”

“You are by far the most decorated woman soldier in History. How does that feel?”

“Like it is happening to someone else. I just seem to get myself in those situations and by the Grace of God I get out of them in one piece and seem to be able to get everyone else out as well.”

“What are your plans at this time?”

“Enjoy my time here and then get back to my battalion.”

Liz was able to slip away after that; she had no idea at the very fine picture she made, the Uniform and Sabre and all her medals.

Getting back to the 160th and her responsibilities soon had Liz fully engaged; B Company was coming home soon and A company of the 2nd Battalion was soon to replace them. The situation in Afghanistan continued to stabilize; the new president of Afghanistan seemed to be much more able to get things done; and the Army and security forces were steadily improving. The Taliban, finally showing some intelligence, were trying to negotiate. With that news, a meeting was held. Liz, the 160th Commander, and the SOCOM commanding general were in a meeting with intelligence weenies giving their best estimate of the situation. Liz was a little surprised that she was part of this meeting.

The SOCOM commanding general dismissed the intelligence officers and when the door closed looked at the 160th Commander.  
“I have gotten the word from SECDEF that we are probably going to go along with the cease fire request that the President of Afghanistan has made. So I need to know what you think you will need there just to hold things rather than be on the offensive.”

“Sir, we can cut our forces in half easily; if the Special Operations will be on a strictly defensive and react status. Compared to regular forces, we can be back pretty fast if the cease fire breaks down.”

SOCCOM nodded then looked at Liz.  
“You probably wonder why you were at this meeting.”

“Yes sir.”

“There has been a proposal put forth to have a worldwide reaction force that would include Super Apache’s, DAP’s, Little Birds, and Black Hawks. You will be part of the study group looking at this. They will be meeting at Campbell next month. Since there are few even in the Special Ops world that know what the Super Apaches can do, it will be up to you to show them. I wanted you to hear the intelligence so that you can factor that into the meetings.”

Liz was thoughtful. “Sir, correct me if I am wrong, but I get the feeling that what is really wanted is for the Super Apache’s to show that they should be the only attack helicopter paired with the Black Hawks for a simplified reaction force.”

The 160th Commander smiled very slightly. The SOCOM commander slowly nodded.  
“I was told you would probably figure it out early on. That is exactly that, Major. You will be expected to show that you can do anything the Little Birds and DAP’s can do and do them better.”

After the meeting Liz met with the 160th Commander privately.  
“Just how political is this?”

“A fair amount. The price of the Super Apache’s has been a sore point. Now their performance in Afghanistan has quieted that down a lot, but some sniping is still there. Personally, I think the day of the DAP is done for all intents and purposes. You could only carry a small number of personnel due to the extra weight of everything added to it. So having a dedicated attack helicopter and dedicated transport seems to me to be the most efficient way to go about things; most of the other senior commanders feel the same way. Now the situation with the Little Birds is different. They are so small and easily transportable that most feel it is a nice bonus to have around. However the small size of them and their limited range also works against them. You really cannot do much about the range situation. The times we have used them to take troops in it has been very hairy; and truly most of us feel that is stretching things too far. Putting them on benches outside the helicopter is an extreme situation I have never liked.”

Liz nodded. “I can understand why it is tried; the Little Bird is so easily deployed. But bringing in forces that way; they are so vulnerable to any kind of ground fire.”

“Yes they are. You should know that some have been looking at a pod that can carry three for use with the Super Apache.”

Liz almost let her jaw drop open but managed to stop it just in time.  
“My god. I had heard nothing about this at all.”

“That is because so far it is only being talked about theoretically in the R & D areas.”

“That is so stupid. They are still just as vulnerable and the amount of gear they can take is so minimal; I hope that is stamped on hard.”

“I agree. Which is one reason you really need to show that you can do more than any other ship; and why a force of Super Apache’s and Black Hawks make the most effective and efficient unit.”

Liz had a lot to think about. The 2nd Battalion was almost ready for full standup; C Company would be coming home and it was looking more and more like only one company would be kept in Afghanistan as long as the cease fire held. Will had gotten his promotion and was now the CO of the 2nd Battalion. But Liz was acknowledged as the head honcho of the Super Apache. It was up to her to lead the force. 

One thing she had to look at was how to keep the force sharp if the deployments were that far apart. If only one company would be deployed, then that would mean as much as 18 months between deployments. That was a long time to try and keep pilots ready to go. Up to now, they had deployed much more often and that was not a real issue. But now for the Apache drivers it could be. Of course if they phased out the DAP’s then there might be more of a need.

The situation with the dog and pony show that she knew was expected was not comfortable. Liz hated this sort of thing with a passion; having to prove the worth of the Super Apache not in combat but in some sort of theatrical production really grated on her. Yet she knew there really was no choice. So she brought in some of her more senior pilots to ask for suggestions.

“So there it is guys. We have to put on an air show that will prove that the Super Apache is the way to go. Now it is a given that the Little Birds and DAP guys will not want to cooperate by letting us show them up side by side. The Little Bird guys could beat us on maneuverability and deploy ability; but we own them on virtually any other basis. The DAP’s only advantage over us is that they can carry troops; and they can claim that they can protect themselves about as good as we could protect regular Blackhawks. So really we have to show that overall we are the best bet. I need suggestions.”

Slinger, Pug, Hannibal, Fireman were all at this meeting. She had also called in some of the Black Hawk people. They were on her side because they liked having the Super Apache as their escort.

Pug was first. “We need to show that as regards deployment time we can beat or at least match DAP. I think realistically we can show that DAP is not really a player. They only can really show an edge as regards bringing troops with them; but we can show that with Black Hawks we can deploy faster with better protection. Now for small Special Ops missions, they have an edge. But that is a limited area.”

Fireman decided to play the devil’s advocate.  
“But with the major conflicts winding down, they will make the claim that they will be doing more small missions rather than large assaults. Which is the place they have the edge. So we need to show that the difference would be minor at best.”

Liz nodded. “I believe we need to attack their strong points; if we can show little advantage for them in the areas they claim they are strongest, then we will win. Since as regards large operations and heavily contested missions we clearly have the edge. But I think we need to do one of those as well so that the observers are reminded of that point.”

So they began to flesh out ideas. They spent most of that day making plans. The whole show was going to be put on in one month.

Meanwhile Liz was still looking at how to keep the force ready to go; and the more she looked at it the more it seemed like an impossible task. Repetitive training after a while became automatic which was good in that it sharpened skills; but at the same time the brain turned off and went automatic too much; and that meant when the unexpected showed up you would be slow to recognize and react; and in modern war you were either quick or you were dead.

So she tabled that and went to some other things. She had requested to make some quick trips to Afghanistan to check on the companies there; C Company was just about to come home and it had been decided that B Company of the 2nd Battalion would wait until it was time for A to come home and just take over their birds. As had been the original plan when only one company was going to be deployed. It was granted and with C Company almost on the plane Liz flew into Bagram.

The decreased intensity of the situation was already apparent; forces were lowering and the NG brigade was about to leave and be replaced by some stray units, bits and pieces. She was glad to see the NG guys; in the nearly 3 months since she had left they had done a fine job, even if the pressure was much less.  
The new officers were a little leery of her, and she could understand that. The Pilots and others of the Brigade that she had commanded had pretty much put her up on a pedestal and everyone else suffered in comparison. So she made sure that she did not step on any toes.

C Company was looking good; after some conversations with them she was satisfied, after reading the mission reports and talking to the units they had supported, that they had done well. The SF commander had been happy.  
“Of course the situation was much easier, but they did a fine job.”

Liz also checked into the A company people; but she was careful to not step on Will’s toes. He was stuck there for a while, but she was working on freeing him up. With only one company and the much less demanding situation, there really was no need for him to stay. Liz spent 3 days at Bagram and was very satisfied with what she found. As she made clear to the 160th commander.  
“Things seem to be running smoothly; and I do recommend that WILL be brought home; no real reason for him to stay. A few days visit every month or so should be sufficient.”

After getting back she waded back into the dog and pony show preparations.

It had been decided to make it a 4th of July show. To mask the actual reasons for it. The preparations had been taxing, to say the least. Liz had worked on some of the other units to help out; she wanted to show that they could deploy in C-130’s if necessary. She remembered going to see some of the Hercules pilots about that.

They were a looser type then hers were; so their greeting was not surprising.

“So, Doberman, come to take a bite out of us?”

“Looking for a phone book to sit on?”

“Come to see what real pilots with real aircraft look like?”

Liz grinned at them.  
“Yes, I know I am slumming, coming to see you trash haulers.”

The senior pilot there grinned at her.

“That is your story and you are sticking to it?”

“Ya. Actually I have just one question. Could you put one of my super Apache’s in one of your ships?”

They looked a little surprised at that.  
“Wow, not asking much are you? The rotors are too long.”

“You take off the ones for the Little Birds so what is the problem?”

“Too high.”

“With the rotors off you have 3 inches.”

“Too long in the fuselage.”

“Not mine; you have 6 inches.”

“Too wide.”

“You got a whole foot.”

They all blinked at her ready answers. She showed them the specs. Then the senior pilot slowly nodded.  
“OK, so far you are right. But I want one of our loadmasters to look at it.”

“No problem. Send him on down.”

First Sergeant Tom Bennett was there that afternoon looking at her Apache’s. He talked to her crew chief and looked all around the bird. Finally he came to talk to Liz.  
“We can do it.”

With that Liz got her Battalion Sergeant Major Sid Winston to hand pick a crew to work on that. Liz intended to fly an Apache in; have the crew break it down and stuff into a C-130; have it take off and then land and pull it out and get it ready to fly. She knew if they could do this it would be a huge edge to show. She then talked to that crew.

“You know what we want to do; and that we want it done as fast as possible. I also want you to look at doing it with the minimum amount of support. In other words no fancy rotor stands, etc. Everything you use must fit in that C-130.”

So they were dismissed from their regular duty and were given the rest of the time to the show to work on this exclusively. She had put the Sergeant Major in charge. And he worked them hard. She remembered when she had picked him.

It had been just after she had gotten A company up and running, not long before her deployment. She had lobbied for a Sergeant Major; telling the 160th commander that having a senior sergeant who would be able to over watch things could come in real handy for a unit that would often be split up. He had agreed and had come up with 3 candidates who were not in special operations. But had shown interest. Up to now they had not had any in Aviation. Sid had been the last one interviewed.

Sid Winston had 21 years in the Army; had started out in Infantry, had done a stint in Armor, then had gone into the 82nd Airborne where he had become a Sergeant Major only a year earlier. Unfortunately there were no slots available for the time being. He had served tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He was a pretty big guy, but clearly fit and ready. He had come into her office with as sharp a salute as Liz had seen; even when considering some of the British ceremonial troops she observed on occasion. Liz had stood up and returned it smartly.

“At ease and sit down. Sergeant Major. You know that you are one of three candidates for this position. Tell me why you should be the man.”

“Major, I can only surmise why you want a Sergeant Major when no Aviation Battalion has had one before. You want one since you figure it will be quite often split up and that you need a senior sergeant keeping an eye on the parts you cannot. While I have not been in an aviation battalion before, in the 82nd we had lots of experience with helicopters in our operations. What a sergeant major does is not unit specific anyway; we ride herd on the enlisted and junior officers to make sure things are done right. We are the eyes and ears of the Commander to make sure she knows things that might not reach her through official channels or her chain of command. I want this position because I have no doubt it will be the finest Aviation Battalion in the US Army and that is what I want to be part of and be part of the reason it is the best.” 

His intense manor impressed her like the other two had not; she nodded.

“OK. Well you are it. When can you be here?”

She managed to keep from smiling as that caught him off balance; he had not expected a decision this soon; but he recovered quickly; another plus.

“Major, I am surplus at this time so no reason to wait at all. I can be here in one week; my wife was halfway expecting a move and has been prepared. Our kids are grown and in college so that is not a factor.”

“Good answer. Take your time; take two weeks and do it right. Longer if you need it. I will not deploy for another month; and that is when I will need you here keeping an eye on things for me.”

With the arrival of C Company at the beginning of June, the battalion was for once intact. And since they brought their Apache’s home with them, they had all their birds as well. Liz’s A company birds had been brought back with her due to the unlikelihood of needing them. So they had 24 Super Apache’s for 1st Battalion of the 160th SOAR. Liz had been very flattered when the other battalions had been moved back in number for the Super Apache’s. C Companies birds would be a week or so from being ready to fly. She had long talks with all the pilots and copilots as they came back, readying to sign off on their evaluations that Will had sent. 

Meanwhile the Sergeant Major had been riding herd on the special crew. And riding them hard. They were using a currently empty hanger for all this and it was kept secured; the men under very strict orders not to discuss this with anyone. So far as he could tell it had not gotten out. They had improvised some ways to support the rotors when being assembled or disassembled without using big clumsy stands or overhead cranes. Same with portable and collapsible ladders so that they could get men up to work on them. It had been a tight fit, but they had put together a frame that marked the exact size of the C-130J Hercules’s cargo hold and practiced making sure everything fit. They had brought in one of the Loadmasters on it as well; he was very interested since he knew if this worked it would be happening for real soon enough.  
In the air Liz had gotten the entire battalion together to practice their own part of the Dog and Pony show. It was very intricate and took some time to get it right; Liz first showed them a series of drawings of what they would be doing; then they slowly practiced it in the air; gradually speeding it up. It was very complicated and Liz began to get an idea on how to keep her battalion sharp in downtimes.

Finally the day of the show came. Liz had deliberately asked for the Super Apache’s to come last and it had been granted.

There were several thousand spectators as well as some very high officials of SOCOM and also a certain Congressman. Liz had made sure to invite him.

She had to admit that the Little Birds put on a show of acrobatics that would have been impossible to match. Of course she could always try another barrel roll but that would not be smart. 

The DAP’s practiced an assault and shot up some targets; they looked pretty good. She smiled as she headed towards her bird.

The 24 Apache’s appeared in a huge V formation; then split after passing the stands into their 3 companies. Then came together in a very tight formation in 6 boxes of 4 that were VERY close and flew at a good speed and then turned as one; then they split into their companies and very quickly spread out. Meanwhile on the ground a large number of targets were quickly set up. Then coming in from 3 directions at once, all spread out, they fired almost as one, in a huge display of firepower, destroying all the targets. Then they quickly formed the V formation and flew over the field, then Liz dropped out and in high speed landing came down not far from the viewing stands. At the same time the picked crew swarmed the bird, with the rotors still spinning but the engines shut down. Liz and Doug jumped out, each grabbing a refueling hose that would refuel the two auxiliary tanks from the fuel carts. Meanwhile the crew under the direction of the Sergeant Major, began to take off the rotors and the Longbow radar mast. Barely waiting until they stopped moving. In 30 minutes, 5 minutes faster than most of their times, they had the rotors off and the bird refueled and re-armed; Liz and Doug doing most of the rearming. As the rotors were just coming off, a C-130J came roaring in and landed and moved towards the Apache. The rear door opened and a crewman with a hook and cable ran to the front of the Apache attaching it to the eye that had been installed there. He signaled the plane and the hook began to draw the Apache towards the ramp that had just been dropped. Meanwhile the crew and Liz and Doug were carrying parts of the Apache and the stands and such into the Hercules. In 15 minutes they had it loaded and 5 minutes later it took off, circled the field and landed in a short space, simulating landing on a short strip. The rear opened and the tail of the Apache began to appear, pulled by ropes from most of the crew. In 5 minutes they had it out and had unloaded all their tools and such. The Hercules took off; and in 25 minutes more the rotors were on and Liz and Doug were doing a preflight; in 5 minutes they started it up and it took off and fired at newly built targets, blowing them all up; then Liz went up to take her place in the huge V formation of Apache’s as it went over the field. In just over an hour and a half it had all been done. The crowd were standing and applauding.

The SOCCOM XO looked at the commander of the 160th and the congressman and remarked.  
“I think Major Parker made her point.”

Two days after the air show, Liz was informed of a high level meeting that would happen in the Pentagon that she would be attending. She got this notice from the 160th Commander, who would be going as well. She asked him if he knew what it was about.

“After the show you put on yesterday, I was expecting this. Just not as soon. I know you were following orders by making sure everyone got it about the Super Apache, but you have heard of the term ‘unintended consequences’?”

“Yes sir.”

“You just might have gotten yourself and your command on some lists you might have preferred to stay off of.”

Liz got to thinking about that over the next few days, and none of the things she came up with gave her happy thoughts. First of course was getting loaned out to the Company; that was #1 with a bullet as far as she was concerned on the bad side of the ledger. Part of some kind of ready reaction force, she could possibly see that. And that might not be so bad as long as only one company was on it. Any more then it began to get ugly. Putting a company on that kind of roster once a month would be about the limit. If she remembered correctly, each time you were on that list, you had to never be more than an hour or so from your base, and you had to be able to get your unit uploaded on transports and moving within 24 hours. Your machines had to be absolutely ready to rock and roll right away. 

Liz worked at finding the good things about getting a big rep; you would not get your budget cut. You would not get loaned out for little things; and you could expect to get solid support from above. Your unit knew they were special and could be worked hard to stay that way. Very few would want out, and you probably had a waiting list for getting in. 

On the bad side was the pressure; you could never really relax. And if you screwed up the fall was a lot farther.

As was typical with Liz, she did not put too much thought into what this meant for her as regards her career. Or herself getting on certain lists.

She would have been shocked and rather worried had she known that the next week after the air show she was part of the subject of several meetings at high levels.

SOCCOM had his monthly meeting with his major command deputies; he tried to talk to them in person if possible and on teleconference if not. This one he had them all in the same room.

“I take it you have all heard the show that Major Parker put on with her Super Apache’s?”

“I am guessing that no one warned her about looking TOO good and the possible if not probable consequences.”

“I doubt it. But then from what I understood she was ordered to be impressive.”

“She managed that.”

“She certainly did. I am willing to bet no one thought you could get an Apache of any kind into a C-130.” 

“I certainly never thought you could. Which raises some interesting questions. I understand some of the upgrades of the Super Apache, but I am beginning to think that a lot of us were deliberately left in the dark about what they could mean. I did not know that they could take a full combat load and four auxiliary tanks at the same time.”

“I think it is safe to say that the 160th might have been a little remiss in informing interested parties in the capabilities of the Super Apache.”

“I think that reason was twofold; one to keep them to themselves, which is somewhat understandable. But now that both Afghanistan and Iraq are at the low intensity level, it is time to share the wealth.”

“What was the other reason?”

“To make sure no one tried to pilfer Major Parker for their own reasons.”

“Her accomplishments as both an aviator and leader have been impressive. Especially the way she seems to be able to take garbage units and transform them quickly.”

“That is a rare ability; and she has done it three times in two very different areas.”

“It is a gift one either has or does not have; it is not something that can be taught.”

At another meeting of conventional officers, including aviators, the subject also came up at a focus meeting that had been called months ago. One of the items on the agenda was a new rapid reaction force that had been floated for some time.

“It is agreed then on the idea of further studying a new RRF. I think that the current force as it is configured is too big and too cumbersome.”

“I agree. Takes too much transport and it is pretty much limited to areas that have large long concrete runways. Special Operations can respond with small forces but they are just that.”

“Speaking of Special Operations, did all of you hear of the display they put on at Campbell?”

“Major Parker strikes again, I heard.”

“Yes. Did anyone here know that you could get an Apache into a C-130?”

All parties shook their heads. One, a senior Air Force general, mused on that.  
“I was surprised until I got the data on the Super Apache; the shorter tail is what made it possible. Past Apaches were just too long.”

“What was also very interesting, as I heard from a few who were there, was that she had been flying it for at least an hour and it was hot; but they still got the rotors and the Longbow radar mast off and the bird inside the C-130 in just over half an hour.”

“Of course that was with a picked crew who had been practicing, but that was still impressive.”

One general asked a question several had.  
“Just how much of an improvement is this super apache over the Longbow version? I have heard rumors but not much else.”

“The 160th kept things very quiet on that project; many of us heard they were improving the Apache for special ops, but most of us figured it would be like the Black Hawks that they have turned into the DAP’s and things like that. But now I hear that this is for all intents and purposes a new aircraft.”

“Titanium frame and supports, and a new type at that; new engines and the capability to use the entire output of those engines; the fenestron tail; and avionics at least as advanced over the Long Bow as it was over the A model. Add to that the ability to have four Auxiliary tanks and a full combat load. Which increases its useful range immensely even without air refueling.”

“But they are VERY expensive; I heard twice that of a Longbow.”

“True. And with the new budgetary restraints it will be hard to get anymore. Especially with things so much quieter in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

“So it is not likely that any more will be forthcoming, except as extras to keep the two current battalions up to strength.”

“More than likely. Still I would submit that one battalion is more than enough for the 160th.”

“That can probably be swung. But then who gets that extra battalion. You would have knife fights among every single regular aviation brigade in the Army.”

“Clearly only the new RRF would have sufficient importance to get it.”

“And probably the second battalion at that. SOCCOM and company would scream if anyone tried to steal Major Parker from them.”

“But if this RRF is supposed to be the best force for immediate reaction; and requires officers capable of independent thought and flexibility, would that not warrant the best aviators as well?”

“You try that out and you better have someone else start your car every morning. Special ops types tend to be very territorial.” 

At still another meeting of Naval and Marine officers, another point of view was heard. The Marine General, as usual outnumbered among the Navy Admirals, spoke up.

“Coming from an old fashioned ground pounder, we still need better close fire support then we do have now. Ships no longer have guns worth mentioning, and close air support is still too inaccurate at times. Not to mention the response unless you have a full time CAP is too slow. Artillery is always the last to show up and its limited range is a pain as well.”

“You got your AH-1Z’s, what more do you want?”

“They are great birds; but they cannot deliver the ordnance the Apache can; and the new Super Apache can deliver more at three times the range and stay around just as long. And the 20MM is just too weak anymore.”

“And it costs more than twice as much as well. With the budget situation as it is, you have very little chance of getting any now.”

“The 160th does not need two battalions.”

“Tell the truth General, do you want the Super Apache’s or Major Parker?”

“Both, Admiral. Major Parker should have been a Marine.”

Liz had been contemplating how to keep her Battalion and the other one sharp; and the rehearsals for the air show had given her ideas. She began to draw up formations and scenarios that would test them and make them work hard; she pushed for as much live fire practice as she could get. As for the ground crews, she began to hold competitions with leave and other carrots dangled in front of them. The fastest crew to rearm; the crew with the highest operational rate.

Her Sergeant Major was also busy; he was constantly prowling the hangers and operations buildings looking for mistakes and laziness and anything that was not right. As Liz held a gripe session for the officers every month, he held one for the enlisted men. And Liz made it clear to everyone that she took what he told her as the gospel. This had the effect of letting everyone know that they could talk to him and it would get right to her off the record.

In August came the word that with the Taliban cease fire still holding, that A company would not be replaced. So the entire first and second battalions would be together at Campbell, in September. Liz also got the word that her promotion to Lt Colonel would come by the end of the year. She had very mixed feelings about that; she knew that there would be more and more pressure to take her out of the cockpit of her Apache. And she did not know if she could remain in the military if that happened. At the same time her appointed career advisor had a meeting with her. He was a full colonel and a former aviator as well.

Colonel Williams was not sure how to talk to Major (soon to be Lt Colonel) Parker. Her career was unique in the military. For all intents and purposes the first true female warrior. More high decorations than any officer since Vietnam. A truly superb officer that had not had one single evaluation less than outstanding. And yet the pressure was still there to have her start taking college courses and working towards a degree; completely idiotic. No promotion board would dare pass over her; their own careers would suffer from the backlash. Yet some dumb gomers insisted that no matter what their career, they had to be taking college courses and going for a degree, then a masters. It did not matter what it was in either. Despite claims made to the contrary; you only had to look at all the business administration degrees and such to know they made very little difference in how an officer did his job. It was all about ticket punching; something Colonel Williams hated with a passion. Elizabeth Parker did not have to worry about that making any difference for a while; He had no doubt that in two years at most, she would have her birds. But after that it would make a difference, even with the new extra promotion board. He consoled himself with the thought that by that time he would be retired. He also hoped he was right in his estimation that getting promoted meant very little to her.  
“Major Parker, I am frankly honored to be your career advisor.”

“Thank you, Colonel Williams. I am guessing that one of the things you want to talk to me about is taking college courses towards a degree.”

“The pressure is still on that area, Major, even if it is not as intense as it was a few years ago. The Alternative Promotion board has made some waves. And the backlash is growing against forcing officers to take years out of their careers for useless college degrees.”

Liz raised her eyebrow at that. “You are a very rare officer, sir, to be willing to speak what many might think but are afraid to utter.”

“I am retiring in less than two years no matter what. So I can afford to say what was previously forbidden. I do want you to consider applying for Command Staff College at some time. That is of course if you are interested in that route.”

Liz sat back for a minute and considered. Then deciding that since he had been honest with her she would be honest with him.  
“Desk command does not interest me. And above the rank of Lt Colonel that will almost certainly be my fate. I am a pilot; a command pilot. I say that with pride and the humility that I have also been very lucky. But I honestly do not see myself lasting much longer once they pry me out of my Apache. A year or two at most and then I will be gone. So at this time I have now 13 years in the military; I truly do not see how I could last to 20. I know I have at most another year or so flying; and then at most a year or two after that. At best I am looking at 16 and then gone. I do not have to worry about a second career; I know that with my reputation I will be able to find a flying job outside the military. And it is much more important to me that I feel challenged and productive than get useless promotions. I do not see how I feel that way behind a desk. And that is where inevitably my career leads.”

He sat for a moment contemplating his response; then decided to just put it out there.  
“That is pretty much it for me; I was pried out of my Black Hawk 6 years ago. I chose to stay in to get my 20. But I can honestly say that I have not done much since then that was really useful or productive to my way of thinking. I have had good postings; have commanded a Battalion and then XO of a brigade. Then I was moved to this position. The Battalion command was the last one I really felt productive; XO was a paper pushing position that I almost drowned in. That is pretty much what this is in too many ways. Way too many of the officers that I advise I would like to tell them to get out and do not let the doorknob hit their ass on the way. Cookie cutter staff and desk weenies. Then an officer like you comes along; I can honestly say that none of my other charges have anywhere near your accomplishments or potential. And I say potential advisedly.”

Liz looked at him calmly. “You are talking command positions and staying in and going for my stars.”

“Yes. Major, you are the first woman that I can see going all the way up the command positions. You have been tremendously successful at Company and Battalion command; and your exploits resuscitating bad units is remarkable. It takes a real touch to do what you have done 3 times. Brigade command is not far off; you were an extremely successful XO of a brigade and it is well known that for all intents and purposes you did command that NG brigade. After that and some courses at Command School, I have absolutely no doubt you will have a star on your shoulder by the time you are 35. Stay with it and I can see the day when you just might be the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 20 years. Maybe less. I see that in your future. And further you are the kind of commander this Army desperately needs.”

Liz sat back, somewhat dazed and incredulous. She could tell he was serious.  
“Wow. Pretty heady stuff for someone that joined right out of high school just to make some money to go to college someday. Things just seemed to fall into place. My guardian angel works overtime for sure. Part of what you said scares me a little – I might actually buy into it and start playing the promotion game. And frankly my thoughts on making it to high command are not pleasant. You say I could make a difference; but I really wonder. I question what difference one officer can make. I have studied some military history over the years; my personal favorites are the Civil War and WW2. Back then one officer could make a big difference; imagine the Union Army without Grant; our army in WW2 without Marshal. Or Sherman and Patton and so on. But now I seriously question what one officer or a few can do anymore in this military. Now outside of bad differences like Westmoreland made, what difference can even a few superior officers make? I look at Desert Storm; we had a great combination there in Powel at Chief of the Joint Staff and SwartzKopf at CENTCOM. In many ways the best we had since Marshal and Eisenhower. But what did they accomplish in the end? Iraq festered; the great military we had in 1991 dwindled and became the Stepford military of today as regards the senior levels.”

“I think I can counter with Petraeus.”

Liz nodded. “I can give you that. But did he really make all that much difference? The Surge in Iraq had already been suggested; his tactics were really nothing new. Afghanistan, it was more the case of us wearing down the Taliban and the steady building of the Afghan government. Both tactics that had been tacitly acknowledged. As someone who was there while it was happening, I did not see much that showed the higher command were doing anything that really mattered.”

He sat back and sighed. It was really hard trying to counter the same thoughts he had had over the last few years as regards their current wars. He had seen very little sign of any brilliance in leadership. A steady wearing down of the enemy; a war of attrition. That was what had gotten it done. And was that more the case of the political leadership being stubborn enough that it finally got results? Rather than any real leadership from anyone in the military?

Liz saw that he was truly conflicted; trying to do what he thought was right vs what he really thought the Army needed. She was very flattered that he thought she had the potential to go that high; but as she contemplated the price she would pay for trying, she had her doubts it would be worth it. If she kept at her current pace, she would be out of the military in 5 years at most. She and Max could easily have more children; have a big family if she wanted. She knew she could write her autobiography and make enough money so that they could do as they wished. Max had a huge wad in the bank; and she had a pretty good pile as well. Between that and the book they would probably be financially set for life. Allowing them so much freedom to raise Aliya and James and other children exactly as they wished. Freedom that very few people had. But she would have to make a decision in the next year or two as to which way to go. She looked at the Colonel.  
“Thank you for your honesty and confidence in me. You have given me a lot to think about.”

“Thank You Major for making this day one that I will cherish. Good luck to you and anything you need let me know. I would consider it an honor to help you.”

When she had left he sat thinking for a long time before telling his secretary he was gone for the day. One of the perks of this position. He had made certain that there would be no further appointments that day. He went home and sat thinking for some time before his wife came in; she was a volunteer at the local military daycare.

She knew right away something was up; she had known him for a couple years before they married; and 20 years of marriage had helped her understand him. He had been in ROTC at college when they had met and married. They had had their kids before he started his active duty. He had had a very good career; and she had no regrets. But today she could see he had some.  
“Well come on, spit it out. Today made you do some thinking and a fair amount of it was not good. So tell me.”

He smiled at her; she really did know him so well.  
“I told you that one of the officers I had been assigned to career council was Major Elizabeth Parker. Today I met her; and I was just as impressed in person as her file and everything I have seen and read had led me to believe I would be. We had a very frank talk. And I tried to convince her to at least play the game enough for her to get to Command rank. I did it because I feel the Army badly needs officers like her. I told her, and I really believe it, that she could someday become the first female Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. She told me why she really did not want to; and it echoed so many of my own thoughts. About the cookie cutter military we now have; and the dearth of real leadership. Which she has in spades. This is the first time I was in the room with an officer that you could just feel it; she is an extraordinary officer that the Army so badly needs. Yet the price she might have to pay to reach the level where she could really change things is so high; and her point that what could one or even a few officers really accomplish was dead on. I cannot honestly say that she is wrong. And yet here I was trying to get her to play the game; one she has totally ignored for all intents and purposes. I left my office and I felt dirty.”

She sighed and cuddled closer to him.  
“You make a point of doing what you think best most of the time. And right now your current position has you trying to do justice to the position while not selling out your soul. If you really believe that the army needs her then you did the right thing. You gave her the options and the reasons. It is up to her. She will make the decision. I know you; you gave her both sides and your own feelings; that is as good as you can do.”

Liz took a day’s leave to attend a retirement party at Ft Carson. Sergeant Axton was pulling the pin. When informed of this in an email- they still corresponded- she told him she would be coming to his retirement ceremony as well. She met him the night before at his party and talked for a while. 

“Well you sure did hold to your schedule; just like you told me at Stewart 9 years ago.”

“Saw no reason to change it; especially now with major combat over. And look at you; steadily heading up the ladder and kicking ass all the time. I saw the potential you had that first day; and I am glad to have seen it start to come true. 20 years from now I am going to be able to sit at the local VFW or whatever and tell the guys I was the one that was her first sergeant when she was just a private.”

Liz nodded and then decided to confide in him; he had given her very good advice once upon a time.  
“Saw my career advisor today; a colonel who was in aviation and I bet a very good one. He was blunt and honest; said if I played the game a little I could one day be the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And he was serious. I have not planned to stay in more than a year or so after they pry me out of my cockpit. But what he said; and what he meant was that the army needed me; has made me think about it. You gave me good advice once so I would like to hear some more.”

He sat and thought for a couple of minutes. He was incredibly proud of what she had accomplished and become; and the fact that he had had a hand in it was one of the highlights of his military career. She trusted him to tell the truth; and he was going to do just that.  
“Play the game as much as you can do without feeling like you are selling out. Draw a line and if you have to cross it to advance walk away. He is absolutely right that the Army badly needs leaders like you. And I know you well enough to figure that you would have feelings like you had quit if you did not try.”

She slowly nodded. “My objection was that I did not really think I could make that much of a difference staying in and playing the game. That I would sell out and in the end not accomplish anything worth that.”

“That is why I say draw a line. You do that and you can walk away before selling out. I have confidence in you; you will not do that; you will not fall in love with the power and the perks and everything else. You will walk away if it is the right thing to do for you. And I think that one person can make a difference; you already have. And I believe you will again.”

That next day she stood with his family and others as he officially retired. She noticed but ignored some of the looks she got as she was recognized. His wife talked to her a bit.  
“He talked about you that first day -9/11. Said he thought you might have a real future if you could stand the BS. He is so proud he was the first Sergeant you had. I am glad to have met you. And good luck to you, the Army does need you.”

Liz was very thoughtful on her flight back to Campbell. Later that evening after James and Aliya were in bed, she felt it was time to talk to Max.  
“Max, my career counselor basically said I could end up as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff one day if I was willing to play the game some. Sergeant Axton pretty much said the same. I am really thinking about it; despite what I have been saying and planning. Despite what we had pretty much agreed on.”

Max held her closer. “Liz, not only do I love you, I admire you. Both as a person and as an officer. You are a real hero in anyone’s book. And as long as it is a decision you feel you need to make, I will support you. I will be there right beside you. Because you are the finest person I have ever met; and the best officer as well. And I love you.”

Then they made love and Liz slept very peacefully. She knew the decision she had to make.

Liz had taken a week’s leave besides going to Sergeant Axton’s retirement ceremony. She knew she had some thinking to do. So she spent time at home, with Max (who also took leave) and Aliya and James. Just being there and with them. She and the rest of her family went to the Saturday get together with the Posse and the Crew.

With the pressure of deployments in the past, they were much more relaxed now. The Crew were starting on their families; all three were pregnant if at various stages. Jesse was at 7 months, Vicki was at 5, and Ellen was at 3. They appeared much happier than she had ever seen them. The Posse was also very relaxed.

As usual it was Susan who brought it up.  
“So, Liz, why do I have the feeling you got something on your mind?”

“Am I that obvious?”

“You sent Max off to draw the men out of hearing; and got Aliya to pull the girls away as well. It was not obvious except to someone that knew you.”

Liz sighed. “I went to my career counselor a few days ago. A Colonel Williams; he was in aviation. A Black Hawk driver. I liked him and I think he was not peddling anything. He only has a year or so to retirement anyway. So I doubt he had a reason to polish the apple. He flat out told me that I would make general; and that he would be surprised if I did NOT one day reach the level of Chief of Staff or even Chairman. He pointed out that I had already commanded Companies and Battalions in combat; and was XO of a brigade but was for all intents and purposes running it. I will be a Lt Colonel by the end of the year. With my record, he said that a man with it at my age would be on the fast track to stars. If I was willing to attend the Command School in a year or two that would seal it. Even without a college degree. The new Alternative Promotion Board was right up my alley if the regular one balked due to no degree. I have already punched my joint service ticket in Afghanistan working with foreign military. Basically I would be the poster girl for women in the Military and the Powers that Be would want me to make it. Sergeant Axton told me the same thing. Others have as well. My plans were to fly as long as I could then find a flying job outside the military. But him talking this way; and others I respect saying the same thing, make me wonder if I have the responsibility to myself to go as far as I can. So there it is guys.”

The 6 women looked at each other then at Liz. Ellen seemed to speak for them all.  
“Go for It Liz; god knows the military needs more officers like you.”

Max brought the others back and sat next to Liz. “I told them as well.”

Liz looked at them. “What do you guys think?” 

Richard looked at her. “I would transfer in to any unit you commanded no matter what it was or where it was going. We all feel the same. And do you know how many officers I have met I would say that about? None.”

They all nodded at her. Liz sighed.  
Liz took the last couple days of her leave to visit Maria and her old friends.

Maria already had two children and was ‘working’ on a third. Tess and Isabelle had each had two and seemed to think that was enough. Maria was aiming at five or six. Liz sat with her oldest and closest friends and just relaxed. The Crew and the Posse were also good friends, and had been a lot more with Liz over the last 6 years, but these three would always be her oldest best buds. So she wanted to talk to them as well on this.

“So there it is. Colonel Williams might have been exaggerating, but I do think he was being totally honest at his evaluation. You all knew Sergeant Axton; he just retired and I made it to his retirement party and ceremony. I talked to him and he completely agreed with the colonel. So I need you guys input as well.”

The three women looked at each other then Tess and Isabelle looked at Maria, who sighed.

Liz looked at them in puzzlement. “What?”

Maria sighed.  
“We were kind of talking about this a few months ago. Right after you got your ‘Knightress’ title. We were musing on just how high you could go. Tess thought you could probably make general. Isabelle agreed and said that at least. I was kind of joking and said Chairman.”  
Liz sat back and thought about that.  
“And you really were not joking were you?” looking at Maria.

Maria was looking down then she looked up and at Liz right in the eye.  
“No, chica. I think you can make it there. What worries me is the price you might have to pay to get there.”

“That really is the whole crux of the matter. What price am I willing to pay and will trying to get there turn me into what I really despise?”

Tess and Isabelle shook their heads vigorously. Tess spoke first.  
“No, Liz, you will not change. You will not become an empty suit.”

Isabelle agreed. “Not going to happen.”

Maria smiled if slightly. “That is not what we are worried about, Liz. What we are worried about is how much you will have to put up with to get there; how much shit you might have to shovel. What that might do to you over the years. Making you hard and distant. Taking away the Liz we know and love.”

Liz slowly nodded. “That is what I am worried about as well. I don’t want to become a part time mom, so wrapped up in my career that I neglect my family. And I can see how that could happen over the years. Sergeant Axton suggested I draw a line in the sand that I will not cross and if I have to I pull the pin. I can do that in my professional life. But how do I do that in my personal life?”  
With that she got a group hug and they all just held her. There really was no clear answer to that. 

Still it was a wonderful trip to see her old friends. The last stage was to Columbus to see her mother. Nancy and Ted had settled down and appeared quite happy. Liz loved seeing her mother happy. They just visited and talked.

Finally that evening Nancy gazed at her daughter. Liz was in jeans and a T Shirt; she looked like she was in her early twenties instead of 31. She had her shoes off and was curled up on the sofa next to Nancy; Ted was in the easy chair.

“OK, honey, it is time you told me why you are here. I love to see you; but since you told me you just spent a couple of days with Maria and the others before you came here, I have a hunch there is something up.”

Liz nodded. “I have been talking to all my friends, my good friends, looking for input and advice. The Crew, the Posse, Maria, Tess, Isabelle.”

Nancy blinked. “Honey, just say it. I know it has to be big.”

“Last week I had a meeting with my career counselor at the Pentagon. They are designated for officers that reach field rank, Major and above. He told me that in a month or two my promotion to Lt Colonel will be coming down. Which was not unexpected. What he told me next was. He flat out informed me that since I had commanded Companies and a Battalion in combat; and had been XO of A brigade in combat but that it was well known I was in operational control, that I was sure to make general. And If I went to the Command Staff College for a year or so, I had a very good chance to one day end up as Chief of Staff or even Chairman. I am now one of the favored few.”

Nancy took a deep breath then slowly let it out.  
“You told me that you wanted to stay in until they put you behind a desk then you were going to get out and find a flying job in the civilian world.”

“That has been my plan. But now I wonder if I have a responsibility to myself and to the military to go as far as I can.”

“Honey, your responsibility is to yourself and your family. Not to the Army or anything else.”

Ted had been silent then he spoke.  
“I never served; I was lucky enough to be born late enough to miss the draft. So I went to college and eventually ended up working for the state at their DOT. It has been a good job but that is all. My first marriage blew up; but now I am very happy to be with Nancy. I am proud to be your stepfather. But more than that I am proud to know you. Take this from someone who has not been in; but knows quite a few that have. They have all said over the years how few really good officers there are. You are a great officer from all accounts everywhere. But in the end it is more important how you feel about it than anyone else. What do you want to do?”

“I am not certain; but honestly I am starting to move towards at least trying to stay in and play the game a little.”

“Play the game?”  
“The military is HUGE on having a degree. Does not matter what it is in; Art Appreciation, whatever, as long as it is a degree. Now that is stupid but it is the system; at least until recently. Then the Army came up with the Alternate Promotion Board that specifically looks at officers passed over. Now the other services are being pushed to do the same. They do not care if you had a degree or not or did not have a checkmark on the list the regular promotion board uses. They only care if you are a good officer. That has started to spread, so I will no longer need a Masters in Shakespeare’ Plays or the like to reach General. If I go to the Command Staff College for a year or so that will be enough. I have to decide whether or not to start down that road.”

He nodded. “Some of the dumbest people I have ever met had college degrees. No common sense at all but they had that diploma. I guess it is not surprising that the Military thinks the same way as most of the business world and elsewhere.”

Liz got home and found that Max and Aliya and James were all out for a time in the park; so she had some time on her own. She sat in the living room and lay back and thought about it. 

The more she thought about it the more she realized that she did not want to quit the military if she could still get things done. It was not about flying as much as it had been for years. She decided. Play the game for a while until it got too much then she would leave. That was how to go about it. She would not sell her soul for general’s stars.

Liz finally relaxed as the decision was made.


	16. her own little kingdom

Liz went back to the base the next day and hit the ground running. She had both battalions up and flying and shooting. She had Will start working his battalion just as hard as she was; and challenged him to show his battalion was just as good. Thus became the competition. It steadily grew over the period of weeks. 2nd Battalions B company was coming back early as there frankly was just not a need. The US overall presence in Afghanistan was steadily shrinking, and the Iraq presence was down to two brigades. She went to a meeting with the SOCOM commander and the 160th Commander about this.

SOCOM was blunt in that the presence of SF would be reduced significantly as well. However he pointed out that worldwide they would still be looking and hunting for Al Qaeda. It had been rumored that Osama Ben Laden had finally succumbed to his kidney disease, and Al Qaeda had pretty much disintegrated into component parts that only had concerns with their own country and nothing else. But the mission of hunting terrorists would go on. The remaking of the ISI which had been greatly helped by the deaths of two of its veteran leaders, had stripped the Taliban of much of its support. Iran was now considered the chief troublemaker, but since they were usually very careful to go with third parties, there was not much they could do about it at this time.

Liz and the 160th Commander had a long talk.

“I just got the word that your promotion will be effective as of 1 September. And with that I am going to appoint you the 160th XO when Jack leaves in November. Now frankly I want you to stay in your Apache because you are just flat out that good. So what is also in the wings is that there will be a new regiment; the 161st. Each regiment will have one battalion of Super Apache’s and Attack Little Birds; One composite battalion of Black Hawks and Little Birds; and then one battalion of Black Hawks and Chinooks. The Battalion makes ups will be as such: Apache Battalion plus one Company of Attack Little Birds; One battalion of One company of Black Hawks and two companies of Chinooks; and then One battalion of One company of Little Birds plus one company of Black Hawks plus one company of Chinooks. We are adding one company of Attack Little Birds, One Company of Little Birds. We are leaving Hunter and putting all our forces here and in Washington. This will happen late next year. Frankly the plan is to give you command of the 161st.”

Liz blinked and nodded. “So this means moving to Washington.”

“Yes.”

Liz sat back and thought about that. So many friends here at Campbell; and Maria and the others not far away. That would all change. She sighed.  
“I have grown so comfortable here. It will be hard to leave.”

“Well this is still in the planning stages so something might change. But it is a given that we will expand and split into two units. The eastern 160th will have Europe and the Middle East and Africa. The 161st will have South America, Oceania, and the East, which means Asia. Frankly there has been talk of Stationing the 160th at Ramstein. It would make it a lot easier to stage from there to the Middle East and Africa. But that is up in the air. Does make sense but I would doubt it. Won’t matter to me since with my next promotion I move up to SOCOM Aviation commander.”

“Congratulations, Sir.”

“I guess. More paperwork and no flying at all. Here At least I can do a little.”

Liz went home that night and talked to Max.  
“They are expanding the SOAR into two regiments. They will be standing up a new one, the 161st. I will be XO of the 160th until it stands up and then I get command of it. It will be stationed in Washington, split between McCord and Lewis. So that means we move out west to the Coast. Cooler and wetter. And a long way from most of our friends as well.”

Max nodded.  
“That will be hard on you.”

“Yeah. But I have been spoiled. Benning to Stewart to Rucker to Campbell. Not much of a move really.”

“Not counting your deployments of course.”

“Of course. But I have been so lucky that I have remained close to my friends through it all.”

Liz shook it off and went back to making sure her battalions were staying sharp. Will had risen to the challenge and was putting together drills and scenarios that would push his battalion to match Liz’s.

Some good news arrived in that spare Super Apaches were being built; some for test and some for replacements for the inevitable losses. Liz asked about the tests and was told that they were trying some of the things that had been done with Little Birds. Which meant trying to find a way to carry passengers. Liz did not think much of this; Little Birds did this but for short distances; which was good since the troopers were exposed to everything and just strapped to a bench installed on the small stub wings of the Little Bird. If they were trying this with super apache’s then they were thinking of trying longer distances. This just did not sound like a good idea. But there was nothing she could do about it so she tried to put it from her mind.

On 1 September she officially got her promotion to Lt Colonel and was made the XO of the 160th SOAR as Colonel Del Rio was able to escape early for his own aviation brigade with the 2nd ID. One good thing was they had added enough staff weenies to do most of the paperwork so Liz determinedly held onto her Super Apache; even when she officially gave up A company to Slinger. One of the spare Apache’s replaced it in the 1st Battalion; and that one was staked out as her personal bird. She took on spare Copilots to give them some flight time. What she did then was then force each company in turn to try and follow the leader as she led them on chases and runs. Then she would order them into attacks and throw last minute wrinkles at them to try and shake them up. She got very creative and since she was flying too she was right on top of them.

The SOCOM deputy came by during one of those training flights and watched from a black hawk a little distance away. After observing this for a while, he asked the 160th commander.  
“She really does have a nasty streak. I think these guys might look forward to a combat deployment just to get away from her.”

“She challenges them constantly. Always thinking up something different. Never gives them a chance to get complacent. She is by far the toughest training officer I have had.”

One thing that puzzled Liz some was that there seemed to be no applicants from any women that wanted to become Super Apache drivers. After double checking to make sure there were none, she went and talked to the Crew. Jesse had started her maternity leave and Vicki would not be far behind, and they were all desk bound so she was able to find them easily. One not so good thing about her promotion to Lt Colonel and her reputation was that it was virtually impossible for her to slip in anywhere without someone noticing and calling all present to attention. But on this occasion she was able to do it and made it to the office that had several cubicles that the Crew inhabited. Vicki saw her first as she slipped into the room.

“Liz! How did you sneak in here?”

“I have my ways. It is getting harder and harder though.”

“Well of course it is. Not only a colonel now but a famous one. Scares the crap out of most people.”

Ellen nodded. “Everyone is always on the lookout for Brass and now you qualify.”

“That sucks but I guess that is the way it is. Listen guys I have a question: what do you know about why no women have applied to become Super Apache drivers?”

Vicki and Ellen looked at each other and burst out laughing. Liz crossed her arms and pouted.  
“Guys. Need to hear the joke.”

Vicki grinned. “Liz, sometimes you are so oblivious. Think about it: ONE-just how many women try and become Apache drivers? Very few. The ones that do are having all they can to just fly the regular ones. Then when they get some time there, most of them get promoted fairly quickly. So they are not flying much longer. TWO- girl, we love you but sometimes you are dense. It is very much the last bastion of the male Neanderthal, probably just like it was in the Air Force and with fighter pilots. So it is not very friendly. You just proceeded to bull your way in and ran them over. Not someone that comes along very often. You loved the Apache because of how it flew and what you could do with it. Once again the number of women like that are also very few. THREE- there are only two battalions in the whole world. The competition to get there is intense and only the more senior Apache drivers have a shot; FOUR- you have to go to the 160th SOAR which few MALE pilots want to do, and so far you are STILL the only one in the entire regiment, right? And lastly – it would take a real egomaniac to want to come to the place that you have staked out and try and compete with the image and record you have put up. The 160th has a real tight process for weeding out that kind of flyer. So there you are.”

Liz blinked and looked at Ellen, who nodded.  
“All in all, Liz, it would be a surprise to us if you got many applications from female pilots at all, let alone for the Super Apache.”

Liz went and talked to her female friends in the 160th who told her basically the same. She then went to the commander.  
“Sir, from what I have gathered very few women apply for the 160th, and many that do are turned down. So far I am still the only female pilot. Or even copilot. I think that needs to change at least some.”

He nodded. “I have gotten some prodding from upstairs on that. You are so well known that many have not twigged on the fact that no one else is here flying anything. I think some recruiting is necessary. And guess who gets to do it?”

“Aw, nuts.”

But orders were orders so Liz went and talked to the crew and asked if anyone they knew was interested and to get out the word. Then she went and poked at SOCOM to have all the female helicopter pilots in the army sent a message from her. That took a while to get authorized for some reason, but it finally did at the beginning of October.

She was a little shocked that the number was as small as it was. There were less than 100 female pilots and copilots in the Army helicopter program. She was sad to note that only 6 others were Apache pilots. Most were Black Hawks, but some were Chinooks and a couple were Kiowa’s. The copilots were pretty much the same, but only two were Apache copilots. Liz made a video with help from the intelligence guys and sent it to every one of them. 

Liz had debated how to do this and then decided to make it a challenge.

“Are you good enough? Only the best fly with us. Can you make it?”

Then it showed them what they would have to go through to make it. The much tougher SERE, and all the rest. Then some footage of the 160th in action. Then it ended up with Liz standing next to her Super Apache.  
“Are you tough enough and good enough?”

Some of the staff weenies thought she over did it. But the commander just smiled.  
“She challenged all of them. Then showed how tough it would be. That is fair and honest. If someone squawks let them.”

Liz got some enquires about it; and she did end up with 7 looking to get to fly with them. And some others showing interest for later on. She was somewhat satisfied. As it turned out 5 of the 7 put in their applications, and eventually 3 of them made it as pilots of Black Hawks. But still no more Apache pilots. There were a few Chinook pilots that looked interested. She was a little surprised that no copilots took a shot. After a couple of months she went to the commander.  
“I guess maybe you need to get someone else; does not look like I did very well.”

“On the contrary, you did better than I thought. We will get some now and more in the future. Just have to be patient.”

The Crew was very amused by her video; pointing out that her ‘Doberman’ logo on her bird was very vicious looking.  
“Gee, Liz, you are going to scare them off.” 

Liz kept working her battalions hard; and then started to pull the rest of the 160th in on it; pushing them to fly with the Super Apache’s. She made some of the scenarios very hard; and threw last minute wrinkles into them. The Little Bird pilots, she noticed, seemed to be able to respond better. So she talked to some of them and found that they had done so much weird stuff in Special Ops that they were naturally more flexible. But they admitted she had come up with some doozies. And were looking forward to more.

Some of the other pilots were not so happy; even going so far as to complain to their Battalion commanders; who felt they needed to voice this to the 160th Commander. His reply was short.

“Tell them to suck it up. As tough as she has been, no one has been shooting at them. I am willing to bet these complaints came from those who have not been in a combat situation?”

When the admission came back that he was correct, he waved off the complaints by telling them to inform the pilots if it was too hard for them they could ask for a transfer that would be immediately approved.

The SOCOM aviation commander had heard some rumblings and had talked to him as well.  
“I hear some are complaining about Colonel Parker’s tough training regimen.”

“That is correct sir and I told their commanders to inform them that any transfer requests would be signed immediately. That seemed to shut them up.”

Another incident was to come up before the holidays. The Battalion from McCord-Lewis came for an exercise against the units at Ft Campbell. Liz designed a fairly hairy scenario that really pushed the Battalion to the max; then put them up against 3rd Battalion in a fly off. They did not do well at either and the Battalion commander filed a formal complaint against Liz for being unfair.

Liz was informed of this by the 160th Commander and told to not talk to anyone and go home. Liz did so but was fuming and growling so much that Max told her that she needed to calm down or the kids would get scared. She managed to cool down enough that evening but was still pissed off.

The 160th Commander had been able to get Liz to go home; but he was very quietly furious with the Battalion commander for this. 160th settled things internally; they did not go outside. He called in the SOCOM Aviation commander to come down and settle it.

He did not waste time. He pulled the battalion commander in and sat him down.

“Major, what you are saying in this complaint is that Colonel Parker unfairly treated your battalion. Now how did she do that? The Scenario she gave your battalion was easier than the ones she has been training the others on. And in the flyoff your Battalion just did not get it done. I have looked over your training records and your battalion has done considerably less over the last 3 months than normal. I am going to be brutally honest, Major. Your complaint will be rejected and you will be relieved of command for not keeping your people properly trained. So you now have a choice: ask for a transfer or be relieved of command.”

Needless to say the transfer request was placed and immediately signed. The Battalion was kept at Campbell for an extra month for remedial training.

Liz found herself putting that battalion through the grinder, using the other battalions at Campbell as the Drill Sergeants. But in 30 days they responded to her scenario well and tied the same battalion that had beaten them badly in a flyoff.

SOCOM spoke after that to his Aviation Commander.  
“How did that battalion get that soft?”

“Sir, for one reason or another they had not had many missions for a while; and the Battalion commander went light on their training. The 160th Commander admits he should have been keeping better track of them but it is hard when the unit is that far away.”

“The Battalion in Georgia had no trouble with Colonel Parkers training.”

“They had come up for a 30 day portion of her training; they did not do all that well the first few times but built up and were fine at the end. But then again it was also easy to get them to Campbell. Or for Colonel Parker to fly her Apache there and work them over. But it is another story for a Battalion on the West coast. And the battalion in Georgia had asked to be included. The one out west did not.”

“That needs to change.”

“It already has. The 160th Commander has made it a regimental order that all the battalions face off at least twice a year from now on.”

“Good. But this situation underscores the problem with having that battalion hanging out by itself.”

“Yes sir. But if the reorganization goes as planned that will not be the case anymore.”

SOCOM just nodded. He did not tell the Aviation Commander that there were some rumblings going on that might change what was supposedly all established as regards the formation of the 161st.

Those rumblings started to materialize in a meeting early in February. 

The Chief of Army Aviation, the Chief of Staff of the Army, SOCOM and their deputies had a meeting that was supposedly to make final decisions but instead showed that there had been some input from some unexpected sources.

SECDEF and the Chairman and USAEUR had had their own meeting just before and their meeting definitely shook things up. That came after a meeting with the President.

The Chief of Staff spoke to the others.  
“This came from above. Now this was supposedly an Army matter but it is not any longer. You are all aware of the problems in Europe; the prolonged economic problems and the debt mess from Spain and Italy and Ireland and the rest. The EURO almost collapsing; and the increasing problem of radical Muslims in Europe; not to mention the way Russia keeps stirring the pot. The CIA and NSA have forwarded a SNIE that is not pleasant reading. Things have still not really settled down in the Middle East. The bottom line is that we need more Special Ops forces in Europe. So the proposal on the table is that when the 161st is stood up it be based in either England or Ramstein. And be tasked with the responsibility for Europe and the Middle East and Africa. The 160th in Campbell then be assigned everything else; the Western Hemisphere, the Pacific and Asia. Now the question becomes who gets Afghanistan. Practically speaking I think that should also belong to the 161st.”

SOCOM frowned. “That would mean that basically all the hot spots except for the Philippines Indonesia area and parts of South America are all on the 161st. That makes things kind of lop sided.”

SOCOM Aviation shook his head. “That is true but the 160th would be covering such a huge area; that alone is a monster challenge.”

The Army Aviation Chief was cautious. “The basing part will also be something to think about. Ramstein would be closer to the trouble areas but training there will be tough; the air space is congested.”

SOCOM Aviation agreed. “There is no way we can train as well at Ramstein as we can at Campbell. That is a big problem. What about England?”

“Lakenheath is pretty busy. Same with Mildenhall. Maybe that one in Scotland- it is out at the end of a peninsula so it would be easy to secure.”

“What was the name of that place?”

“It is in the file here; the MOD wanted to sell it but contamination questions shot that down. It is listed as basically in limbo. RAF Machrihanish.”

“Let’s talk to them. The MOD needs money badly right now; their budget problems are worse than ours.”

And they did, and they made a deal.

“I do think we got the better of the Yanks on this deal.”

“They needed a place to put an Aviation Brigade and yet have room to train. On the coast there they have it. Not many other places they could go to Europe without problems. Germany is too small and congested; you go farther east and you have Ivan making noise about it. One of the proposals was for Poland; you can imagine how they would have growled at that. Over all it was the best choice; and that money will come in very handy over the next few years.”

“That was kind of expensive.”

“We needed the place, and it has several advantages over other possibilities. We made a deal with the Poles and the Austrians to train several times a year. So that will give our people experience at mountain terrain training and lowland training. Forested areas. And at the main base they will be training over water. The best thing is that they can ferry to each training site; and back. Overall it is a good deal all things considered; even having to build facilities there.”

“What is the time line looking like?”

“Well the nice thing about being in the world of Special Operations, you do not have to follow all the stupid acquisition rules and garbage that causes all those cost over runs and waste and mistakes. We know what we want; it has been built elsewhere before, so we use the same designs. Do not have to pay for new ones and all that crap. Just have to check the UK building laws and such for compliance and make any needed changes. I think we can begin construction in May and have it done by October, which works out well as that is when we want to stand up the 161st.”

It was in March that Liz was called to a meeting at the Pentagon. She went with the 160th Commander. He was not sure but thought that there were some changes with the plan to put the 161st at Lewis-McCord. They were to be surprised at how well the secret had been kept.

Liz looked around the room and was surprised at the Brass. SECDEF, the Chairman, USAUER, FORSCOM, CENTCOM, Chief of Staff and their deputies. She and the 160th were easily the lowest ranks in the room, with her the lowest.

SECDEF started it off, of course.  
“You are all aware of the plan to stand up the 161st SOAR at Lewis-McCord later this year. That has been changed. We have recently finalized agreements with the UK, Poland and Austria. The 161st will be based at RAF Machrihanish in Scotland. (showed a map on the viewer) Facilities will be constructed there starting in early May for the Brigade. They will be done by October when the 161st becomes operational. Until the facilities are ready they will train at Campbell. The responsibilities for the two units will be as follows: The 160th will have the Western Hemisphere and Oceania and Asia up to the border with Pakistan. The 161st will have all the rest; Europe, Middle East, Africa and Afghanistan and Pakistan.” 

He paused as there was some murmuring around the room.

“I know what most of you are thinking; that the 161st basically got all the hot areas. To a certain extent that is true. The hot areas NOW. But looking towards the future I believe that as long as China continues to build her military and shows interest in flexing it that is very likely where the next big one will be. And there are current problems throughout the Philippines, Indonesia area. Not to mention Korea. So it is not as one sided as one might think.”

That was the real meat of the briefing; the rest was the filling in of details. Liz left feeling a little limp. She had gotten used to looking at moving west; now east- a lot farther. She sighed as she got off the jet and headed home. While across the continent, she would have been able to see her friends a lot more than being across the ocean. She got home right after 6, finding Aliya and Max and James just starting to get dinner ready. She hugged her daughter and her son and then kissed Max soundly; then helped get dinner ready and they ate.

Later that night after the children were in bed Max and Liz cuddled on the sofa. This was the best of times for Liz; just cuddling and being with her guy.

Max knew that Liz had come back from an important meeting at the Pentagon; supposedly to finalize plans for the 161st going to Washington. But he knew Liz well by now and clearly she had been very surprised at what she had found out.

“OK, Liz, spill.”

“Not Washington. Scotland.”

“whaaaaaaaa…”

One of the first things Liz did the next day was to research that Scottish base and area. The climate was first; and Liz was a little depressed as she found out how cool it was on average. 70 would be a heat wave in midsummer. But the good news was that it did not get that cold. Stayed above freezing most of the time during winter. It was about as wet as Campbell. Still the sea breezes would be better in some respects; less pollution. It would not be too bad for her; considering where she had grown up. Same with Aliya to a certain extent; it would not get as cold. Max would not like it that much; and James was just reaching the age of noticing.

She had already let the 160th Commander know that she wanted to visit to look it over and he agreed, telling her to let him know when and he would arrange the transport. She looked at the information available and found that there would be commercial use of the main runway, but it was very limited. The Facilities would be built quite near the runway. Hangers and such. The living quarters would be going up at the same time. Luckily there was room and the idea was to build a fair number of flats-condo’s. Plus separate houses for the senior officers. She would need to check on that. Not to mention schools. Luckily Aliya was already preparing to leave her friends and school so that was not a change. James was just beginning so no big problem there. Moving now would be easiest for him of all of them. 

A phone call to the planning group at SOCOM gave Liz a lot more information; they promised to email her everything they had and what the plans were. She was hoping that if anything looked bad there was still time to make changes. Even though this was clearly a high priority and an immediate building situation.

The data that they sent her looked good; they were building sufficient housing for all personnel. No one would need to live on the economy. Her Regiment, being Aviation and special operations, was smaller than the others. So there would only be about 1500 total. Some of the services would be contracted out to local companies. The data showed that a K-12 school was in the works as well. They would have around 700 students if her figures were correct. Special Operations personnel tended to have smaller families.

One thing that Liz was just beginning to get was that she would be in command of not only the troops but their families as well. She would be the Base commander, under the RAF or RNAS (that was still to be decided). And that meant a whole other set of problems she would be dealing with. Deciding to do another Scarlet O’Hara, she put that off. And called the Commander to arrange her flight.

The MOD announcement came not long after the formal agreement was signed. It caused some stir, but not much. After all it was in Scotland in a fairly empty area. More interest came when it was disclosed who would be in command for the American Unit.

“Interest in the MOD announcement of the new base for the American 161st Special Operations Aviation Regiment, at RAF Machrihanish, increased when it was disclosed that Colonel Elizabeth Parker, Knightress Parker, OBE, DFC, would be the unit and base commander. Colonel Parker, well known to the UK public for her exploits in Afghanistan in support of Her Majesties Armed Forces, is certainly a very good choice.”

The SAS commander looked at his deputy.  
“We need to make sure our previous close relationship with Colonel Parker is maintained. Having a friend there could be very useful.”

The Royal Commando commander was not the only one to have this thought, though he was quicker to start looking into it. He glanced at his deputy when he said it.  
“The budget constraints will last some time. Training has been cut back too much but there you are. Now the Yanks special operations mob probably still have as much money as anyone does, they seem to do better in the cuts than anyone else. So we need to make contact early with Colonel Parker about arranging joint training.”

As a courtesy of course, the DOD had informed the MOD that Colonel Parker would be coming to look the area over. The rep making the contact did not really realize what he was committing her to when the MOD official rather CASUALLY mentioned that some units she had worked with wished to greet her. And the affirmative given was not given with full disclosure on the other side.

So when Liz landed at Campbeltown Airport, which would be again renamed as it had been RAF Machrihanish, she found a rather interesting welcome party.

The Mayor and local officials of course. Even a casual visit required this. But she was very startled to find the SAS, Royal Marines, Royal Commandos, the RAF and several British Army Regimental commanders there as well. She began to get the feeling that she was about to get milked like a fat cow.

She made nice for the reporters and cameramen, she was glad she had come in BDU’s and not her class A’s. Though they were clearly disappointed in that. She had a quick meeting with the mayor and the others first.  
“I am very pleased at the welcome I have received. I need to tell one and all that I found out about this about one week ago. Up until then the plans were to stand the 161st up at Lewis-McCord Joint Base in Washington. Which is one reason I felt I needed to get over here and take a look. In less than 8 months 1500 military personnel and almost 1800 dependents will be descending on this area. Construction will begin as soon as possible on the facilities. We are building a town in this area that will not be all that much smaller, population wise, than Campbeltown is right now. It will be in some ways completely self-contained with its own school and support facilities; but a lot of things will still need to be bought locally. Some services will be contracted out as well; but that is up to the RAF or whoever is going to oversee it. We intend to be good neighbors. I can personally promise that I will see to it that we are good neighbors. But there will be problems; that is part of the way the world is. I just ask that people think before they speak when problems do happen. I am looking forward to living here; Scotland has always had a romantic connotation to me. Now I want to make one thing very clear: Helicopters are fairly noisy. We will do as much training as we can over water; but some will have to happen over land. I will do all I can to make it as little an annoyance as possible but it will happen. The daily commercial flights will continue; there are not that many and we can plan around them.”

Liz left it at that; when asked to answer questions from the press Liz realized that she could not avoid it entirely but said she could only spare a few minutes as her day was full and she was leaving that evening.  
“Colonel Parker, the MOD statement did not mention what the 161st SOAR would be doing. Could you clear that up some?”

“The 161st SOAR will have responsibility for supporting special operations that concern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The 160th out of Ft Campbell, Kentucky gets the rest of the world. And they can have it since I got plenty.”

“Colonel Parker, will the 161st be supporting NATO?”

“Of course. But I will fall under two commands, that of SOCOM and USAEUR; and will also be supporting CENTCOM. So I will be wearing many hats.”

“Colonel Parker, will you be doubling as the Base Commander?”

“Yes. And that will be a completely new experience for me. Everything that happens on the base or concerning anyone from the base will be my responsibility.”

The MOD official on hand then signaled that that was the end; much to Liz’s relief. 

She did not realize that she came off very well; engaging and attractive anyway, her manner was very good for what she would be doing.

Escaping the local officials was one thing; the waiting military hoard another.

There was a conference room in the terminal and that had been commandeered for this meeting. Liz came in and sat down and looked around.  
“I guess it is nice to be popular. But I have a hunch there is something else going on here.”

The MOD official sighed. He had not been clued in either until just that morning about what was going on.   
“Colonel Parker, while this may appear to be an ambush it only looks that way. These are all commanders of units that would like to train with yours.”

Liz nodded, she thought she had an idea of what was going on.  
“We are going to be doing a fair amount of training for the coming year to be certain; there are a number of green pilots in my command that need seasoning. There are plans to have training exercises in Poland and Austria. This command needs to get used to operating in other terrains than this one. I am also looking at getting some desert training in sometime as well, more than likely in the Middle East but I am open to other suggestions. The Air Force will be working with us to transport and practice transport. Frankly, I want to work with the UK military as much as possible since odds are if something is going on we will be working with you anyway. I have been told that at least for this year and next year, my training budget will be pretty liberal. After that it probably will be cut back some but as long as we are with SOCOM that will not be all that bad. So I would welcome suggestions and offers for joint training.”

The RAF Group Captain in attendance nodded thoughtfully when Liz looked at him.  
“I believe that we can arrange training time and basing in Cyprus. That would not be a problem, more than likely.”

“That would be good. I am pretty sure I can arrange transportation for all involved. And fueling at least.”  
Liz looked at the rest of them.  
“As regards the Austrian and Polish training, no details are available. Probably not until the spring at the earliest. That has to be thrashed out. Now as regards here, I think fueling and the like and the use of transports should be no problem. We do have this nice long runway here. I would be willing to bet that the Air Force guys would be quite happy to do just about anything if they get paid. As long as my training budget is not in danger, I will push for all I can.”

Liz realized that she might be writing checks she could not cash, but her directives were very clear about getting the 161st up and running. So they were going to have to pay for it. She then had another thought and looked at the MOD official.  
“I would like to talk to a Royal Navy rep; I am looking at having some boats available to be around when we are training over the water; you never know when your engine might give out. But more than that I want to ask if there is anything big enough we can get that in an emergency we can land a Apache or Black Hawk or Little Bird on instead of it going into the water with its crew in it.”

The MOD spokesman looked bewildered at that; but the Royal Marine commander spoke up.  
“I do believe the navy has a couple of reasonably small boats that you could land a small helicopter on; not a Chinook but the size of a Black Hawk.”

Liz smiled at him. “That would be great; and we would pay for them to be here of course; the savings if we can keep one single chopper out of the water would pay for their use for years. Not to mention the danger to the crew.”

Everyone at that meeting blinked at the foresight of the young colonel.   
After that Liz wanted to see the area and they all piled into vehicles supplied by the MOD and they looked around which was not much. Most of the land south of the Air Field was a golf course; the MOD informed Liz that some of the land directly to the west and north of it was part of the course but would be taken back if needed. But he had a caveat to that.  
“Just south of the airport area is a very famous golf course. They are the only ones not happy about this.”

Liz nodded. “That is bad in one way; I might end up hosting generals and admirals looking to play golf.”

She was shown where the new hangers would be built; and the other structures for their support. Mostly pastureland now. Then she was shown where the housing and school and other facilities would be built. She had the initial concept drawing and it did not look bad. It would all be rather compact, but nice. The Commissary and PX and Health Clinic would be all in walking distance as would be the school and day care. She was skeptical that it would all be done by 1 October.

“Well, that is probable, but it would not take that much longer. The drawings and designs are being updated now; construction will begin in late April if not sooner; the land will be cleared and floorings and footings poured at any rate.”

“We are already looking at contingencies if necessary; we will move later or delay the movement of dependents.”

Flying back that night, Liz was glad they had let her use one of the executive type jets and she was able to relax and think about things. She had a feeling she was going to be busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking competition. It was slowly dawning on her that she was going to have an awful lot on her plate.

One thing that was clear to her was that she was going to need an experienced XO. She took that up with the 160th Commander when she got back.  
“I am going to need someone experienced at a lot of things for my XO. Where can I find one?”

He looked at her and nodded. “I knew that would occur to you before long; I have been keeping an eye out but no one has appeared. I can safely say we certainly do not have one on board now. I think you need to look at getting a non-aviator type, an admin guy.”

Liz slowly nodded. That made sense. The Admin part of her job was going to be pretty massive. She thought about that some over the next couple of days then made a phone call.   
“Colonel Williams. Thank you. Yeah I guess I am fortunate but I am as busy as hell right now. What I called you about is I need a Light colonel that is really good at admin stuff. More to the point running a base. I admit I am weak there. So I need a good backup. Could you look around some? Thank you.” 

Colonel Williams contemplated Colonel Parker’s request. He could see her point and he agreed that she did need a good admin XO. He thought about that for a while and had his secretary bring in a batch of once passed over Lt Colonels. They were more likely to have experience in admin areas; and they would be older as well. She did not need a young up and comer looking for his next promotion; he would not have either the knowledge or the inclination to really help her. His secretary brought in the files of 30 once passed over Lt Colonels. He started to look them over. The carrot he would use would be that if he did a job for Colonel Parker, her recommendation would probably be good enough to get them promotion to full colonel.

After most of the day went by, he had settled on 5 candidates. He then looked over each one carefully and whittled them down to 3. He then put in a call to each one the next morning.

Liz was wading through more paperwork for her upcoming command when her phone rang just after noon.  
“Colonel Williams? Wow that is fast. So you think you got 3 good ones to choose from. Sounds great. Could you email some details on each? Great. Thanks a bunch.” 

Liz carefully checked over the three he had picked. Each one was somewhat older than most Lt Colonels and had been passed over once. They were all heavy at admin which was one reason they had been passed over. The surprise was that one of them was a woman. Naturally curious, she read the data on her first. It would be nice to have an older woman to help out; they could talk to each other easier than she could talk to a man. However, something about her just did not ring right. She just did not have a good feeling. Liz had learned to trust that feeling and moved on. The next one looked good; but Liz somehow just did not feel anything. The last one –Liz read it twice and was not sure but she thought he might be the one. 

Lt Colonel James Harkness was a ROTC who had graduated from Michigan in 1995. He had gone into the infantry and stayed three years; then had gone into support and pretty much stayed there. No remarkable postings; he had gotten his masters in BA. He had performed well but not outstanding. And he had slowly but steadily moved up the ladder; always in admin areas. But a fair number of them all over the country and in Germany. So he had experience. Liz decided to talk to him; he was currently Deputy Base commander at Ft Riley.

Jim Harkness was making plans for when he was out of the Army. Having been passed over once, he had not much hope of making it the second time. But he had his 20 in so he was somewhat sanguine about it all. He knew he was not a top officer; he was more plodding then brilliant. But he took pride in doing his job as best he could. Tara, his wife, thought he under rated himself but he knew he was just somewhat above average as an officer. He was glad that both his kids were out of college, his daughter just that year. His son had married and was about to present him with his first grandchild. His daughter was engaged to a young man he liked and that looked promising. He had met Tara as a freshman and had married her their second year; she was a real estate agent. Having their kids just before going on active duty had been a little tough but in the end had worked out for the best. He did not really have the connections to get a juicy job in the Defense Industry and really he did not want one; it felt like payola to him. But there were good possibilities that he was looking into and felt reasonable optimism that his second career would be decent if not great.

His phone buzzed and he picked it up. “Yes, Clare?” He was lucky in that at Riley like most older posts even the Deputy Base Commander had a secretary. That really helped.  
“Sir, there is a Colonel Elizabeth Parker on the phone, wishing to talk to you.”

He blinked. He could think of only one Colonel Elizabeth Parker in the army and why would that rising star want to talk to him? As far as he knew Colonel Nelson, the base commander, was in. And this was not the way to contact the Aviation Brigade. “Put her on.”

“Colonel Parker, what can I do for you?”

“Colonel Harkness, how is your schedule in the next couple of days?”

“Nothing Important, Colonel Parker.” A deputy Base commander rarely had anything important anyway.

“Good. I will be visiting tomorrow and I would like to talk to you.”

“Colonel, I was not aware that you were visiting.”

“Of course not. Right now only you and I know this. 1000 tomorrow a good time for you?” 

“I can clear several hours if necessary.”

“We should not need that long. See you tomorrow, Colonel.”

He hung up and tried to figure out what was going on. Parker was one of the true rising stars- the 161st was due to stand up in October in Scotland. Rumor had it she would have her birds by then. She clearly was going to make general and above easily. Why in the world did she want to talk to him? Well, he better tell Colonel Nelson.  
“Clare, get me Colonel Nelson.”

“Jim, what’s up?”

“Just got a call from Colonel Elizabeth Parker. She is coming here tomorrow to talk to me. And I cannot figure out why and she did not say.”

“Parker? THAT Parker?”

“I don’t know of any others that is a woman.”

“True. This is interesting. Something is up and if she is involved it is something big. She does not waste her time on anything small, from what I hear.”

“That is what I figure as well but I cannot see what it is. Does not appear to have anything to do with the Aviation Brigade; she called here and not division.”

“I guess we will find out tomorrow. I will ask around some and see if anyone knows anything. She will be coming into Marshall probably on a C-12. But since she wants to talk to you talk to her. She tends to run right over anyone that gets in her way, from what I have heard.”

“Yeah. And leaves bodies behind. So I will be there and see what is up. Going for BDU since I doubt she is in anything else.”

“That is her rep. Play it cool, Jim and let me know when it is over.”

“Yes sir.” 

Liz arranged for a C-12 to pick her up and bring her back same day. Her boss raised an eyebrow when she told him what she was up to.  
“Good idea. You will need someone you can trust and get along with there.”

Liz got there at 0930. Colonel Harkness was waiting for her. Figuring from her reputation she liked it low key he met her by himself. He had noticed a few others watching. Rumors had been flying but nothing made any sense. Colonel Nelson had gotten nothing; no one knew a thing about her; but all agreed it was something important.

“Colonel Harkness. Glad to meet you. Gotta conference room or office we can borrow; or go to yours?”

“Colonel Parker, my office is not far off so we will go there.”

“Works for me.”

Meanwhile word spread that one of the Armies brightest young stars was on base; and the Aviation Brigade Commander heard about it and called around.

“So no one knows a thing. Maybe not a surprise. She has been known to move real fast on occasion.” He looked at his XO. “Crank up our Apache’s. Let’s give the Premier Army Apache commander a show.”

Liz was a little amused at things; everyone was treating her as if she was about to drop a bomb. Maybe a little one, she thought. She followed Colonel Harkness into his office and he closed the door. She sat at the chair in front of his desk and he sat behind it. She was smiling.

What is this about? Well, her rep is she liked it straight so here goes.  
“OK, Colonel Parker, what is the deal. No one knows of if they do they are not talking. Colonel Nelson called around and got a big 0.”

Liz kept smiling. She liked him. Maybe this was a snap decision but her hunches were almost always on the money. “I am here to offer you a job. XO of the 161st Aviation Regiment.” She did enjoy his shock.

“Colonel, why in the world are you offering that position to me? There must be a bunch of hot young officers looking for that posting.” 

“There might be. Have not heard. Does not matter. I did some checking and looked over some candidates and you are the man.”

“That still does not tell me why?”

Liz stopped smiling, leaned forward and got serious. The change was quick and startling. Now instead of the pleasant young woman in front of him he could see the warrior she had proven herself to be.  
“I need a XO that has a lot of experience at base ops and admin support and who is no hot rocket looking for his next promotion over doing his job right. You are very solid and very experienced. That is who I need to help me run the base and hold the fort when I am off shooting places up.”

The shock was wearing off and he began to think about it. He could see her point and it made sense. This posting would be a shot in the arm for his career; if Elizabeth Parker gave him high props his promotion to full Bird would be actually possible if not probable. This would be a three year posting; and in Scotland which was a place he had visited once and wanted to see more of. Her duty post was going to be very important; if he did well there that could very well mean more good postings in the future. And it would not be boring for certain; setting up a new base was a very rare thing anymore. Especially one that would probably be permanent and high profile. He would be very busy and have to work hard; not something that turned him off of it. There really was only one answer.

“Colonel, I would be a damn fool to pass this up and I am not a damn fool.”

Liz grinned brightly and it lit up the room. She put out her hand and he shook it; this was a deal and nothing else was needed. She got up as he did.  
“Good. Well that is all I came here for; my plane is waiting. Getting in and out fast will give people less time to try and find out what I was doing.”  
She got out her phone and punched in a text message. Then she grinned at him.  
“I will have your orders cut for 1 May. Is that a problem?”

“Not at all.”

“Let’s go then.”

They got to the airfield to find a whole battalion of Apache’s hovering. She had to give them full marks for getting them up that fast. The Brigade Commander was waiting for her next to her plane. She marched up to him and saluted. He returned it. She smiled.  
“I give you full marks for having them up and hovering in under an hour. That is about as good as it gets. Good work, Colonel.”  
She then saluted him and headed up the stairs to her plane. The Apaches went into escort formation as she lifted off; the plane came around at 2000 feet and waggled its wings as it left.

Liz made sure she sent an official message to the Aviation Brigade remarking on the speed they got off the ground into formation.

Meanwhile Colonel Harkness went into the Base Commander’s office and shut the door. He looked at him.  
“OK, let’s have it.”

“She offered me the position of her XO with the 161st.”

He sat back and blinked then thought about it. Slowly he began to nod.  
“She is sharp. Setting up a brand new base she wanted someone with experience in base ops. You are a very solid officer, Jim. Sorry to lose you but it will be great for your career. She is going to hit the heights and I imagine she will make sure that those that were with her get pulled along.”

Liz called Colonel Williams and let him know; he agreed with her choice and started to punch it into the system.

Two days later Colonel Harkness got official notification of his next posting – to report to Ft Campbell NLT 1 May as the XO for the 161st with intention to deploy overseas.

Liz was VERY busy trying to get a new unit ready while still running her battalion and while still XO of the 160th. She was glad she would get Colonel Harkness as she needed him.

Liz steadily ground through things as April went along. The only time she felt free was when she was able to steal away and fly her Apache. Take the battalions up and wring them out. The new Little Birds had arrived; but their pilots were still going through the Special Operations prep school, as she liked to call it. Once they got out for all intents and purposes the 161st would be ready to stand up. They already had the forces to make up the Black Hawk and Chinook units. Her three Aviation battalions plus the Maintenance battalion would be just about done. Some of the extra equipment for the maintenance units had not arrived; nor had some of the personnel finished their Special Ops training; but it would not be long. Ft Campbell would lose about one third of what it had before; but since the unit from Georgia was being relocated to Campbell that would even out. 

The decision had been made upstairs to make two Regiments out of one while adding a couple of extra companies. The six original battalions of the 160th had been unevenly built; and now by adding one company of Little Birds and one of Attack Little Birds, there were going to be two equivalent Regiments. The only difference would be that the training would still take place at Campbell and the training cadre would stay there. Each would have 3 fighting battalions and one support battalion. Each would have an Apache Battalion, then one battalion of Little Birds and Black Hawks; and then one battalion of Black Hawks and Chinooks. The 160th would have two extra companies of Chinooks over the 161st, but there were two more companies on order and they would go to the 161st so that in the end each would be equal. When they got them, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions would get one more Chinook company.

Overall Liz was quite satisfied with how things were going; they were ahead of schedule and that was of the good. She was still light on officers in her Apache Battalion, but that would come with time. The others were ready to rock.

She was also grateful that at the moment the world situation was unusually peaceful. Iraq and Afghanistan had settled down to the point where the US did not have to deploy any real force in either; and even SF operations had dropped to a new low. However she knew that this especially peaceful time would not last. Things would heat up somewhere again. She just hoped for enough time to get up and running in Scotland.

Colonel Harkness showed up the week before he was due and Liz put him right to work. He had a good eye for things that Liz was not yet very aware of and was a help right away.

Liz still tried to make the every other weekly pot luck picnics at the park; she knew that before long they would be just fond memories. The week of the announcement of where the 161st was going to she was at the picnic. She told them quietly that day.

They had all accepted she was going to Washington; but Scotland was another matter. They were very quiet about it. Saddened but understanding. Susan had sighed but pointed out that the Posse would soon be out of the military; all three husbands were getting out; going to college as a matter of fact. The irony of that definitely struck Liz. But they had it all planned out so that was good. The Crew were also looking at getting out; as were their husbands. Liz had had an idea that this was coming but it appeared that within the next year they would all be out. So her leaving was not so bad now.

Liz had managed a long weekend with Maria and her best buds soon after the announcement. They had been saddened as well; but did promise to take vacations sometime and visit Scotland.  
Liz was coming to the realization that everything was changing; her; her career; her location. She had been very lucky, she knew, to stay in the same place with so many good friends around. Now just about everything would be adrift. She realized that she would need her family more than ever and they would need her.

Liz snuck over for a visit in Mid-May to see how things were going. Ground had indeed been broken in April and things were looking at the time to be slightly ahead of schedule. But Liz knew it was too early to make any bets. She had been able to arrange a meeting with a Royal Navy rep and talk to him about her idea of having one or two medium sized boats that could in an emergency take a Black Hawk, Little Bird or an Apache. 

“What we have found are two Cloverley Fleet tenders that are in good condition; the Denco people can operate them for a reasonable price; a platform can be built forward to allow a helicopter to land. I have the details right here.”

Liz looked them over and nodded.  
“These look good. I will head back and see if I can get them funded. Should know in a few weeks. How long would it be before they are ready?”

“They told me that they could be ready and on station in 90 days.”

“So I would need an answer by the beginning of July. Well I should know well before then.”

Liz wasted no time in going up the ladder for funding; her point that if they saved just one helicopter it would pay for them for many years was telling; and her point of what would happen to the CREW if a helicopter hit the sea was even more so. She pushed the fact that they would have to do a fair amount of training over the water due to their location. So you had to compensate for those extra risks. It took a few weeks but it was authorized. 

“Just got word from Colonel Parker; the funds for the two Cloverley’s have been approved in full.”

“Very good. Inform the Denco chaps. The Helicopter types have been considering Colonel Parker’s idea and it appeals to them. She did specify that only one would be needed at any time?”

“Yes Sir.”

“Well then once the conversions are done we might see about having the other one on call for our people if they are doing any training out of sight of land.”

“Yes sir.”

As May turned into June Colonel Harkness found himself as busy as he had ever been in his career. The details that establishing a new unit piled up was immense; add to that the situation of preparing a full permanent deployment of a unit; and that the base was even at that point being built, meant a great deal of work. Base housing would be needed until they were sure that the facilities were ready. Then arranging the transportation of so much equipment and then of course the helicopters themselves. However Colonel Parker had gotten an idea there and had been able to sell it to the Brass.

The normal procedure was to have the aircraft all packed up and shipped by sea or by air. Liz had proposed a training flight that would deliver all the Brigades Helicopters in one go- combat loaded. She had found that the overall cost was comparable; and the ability to get it all done at once would save money in other ways. The Air Force was quite happy to do it if they got paid for it so in the end it worked out. Everyone would get a 24 hour warning and then would load and get to Scotland in 72 hours after beginning. Liz found more and more getting interested as not since the early time of Desert Shield had this been tried. So it was not only a training idea overdue it would give some hard figures on how it could be done.

By the middle of June the last of the personnel and helicopters had been delivered and it was getting a little crowded at the helicopter area at Campbell. Liz began to immediately push the training of the new people hard and the rest of the battalions as well. She intended to keep it up until August; when she would over the next two months see to it that all her people got at least a couple of weeks leave to help start making the final plans for everything; seeing family before they left; and so on.

Liz was trying to make quick visits to the new base every 4-6 weeks to make sure of progress and to tie up other loose ends. She told Colonel Harkness that he would be going on some of these trips to see for himself.

From 16 June to 30 June Liz had her whole new regiment working hard against the remaining parts of the 160th in some very intensive training scenarios. They not only tested the pilots and copilots, but pushed the ground crews hard as well and the maintenance people; she was giving them a taste of sustained combat like operations. AND she kept reminding the crews that this was much easier than it would be in real combat. As the odds were they would not have the same support facilities at hand; and they did not have to fix battle damage. 

After a week off to let them rest and enjoy the 4th of July, Liz had them at it again for almost the remainder of the month. By the 25th of July, she felt comfortable with their readiness and declared hard training over.

She was notified that her promotion to full Colonel would come on 1 September. That got her to thinking. Back to where it all started; just over 13 years ago. Benning and Basic Training. Meeting Maria and Tess and Isabelle. Then Stewart, arriving on 9/11. Iraq. OCS. Flight Training. Campbell. Afghanistan the first time. Meeting the Crew; Max and Aliya. Meeting the Posse. Second Afghanistan. The second ASP mess; then James. The 160th and the Super Apache. Third time Afghanistan. And now the 161st and going to Scotland. She had to admit she had been pretty busy. From Private to full Colonel. Found the love of her life and a daughter and had a son. 

Liz had backed off of training to let people rest up and start taking leave prior to heading to Scotland. But for her and Harkness and the other staff personnel the endless avalanche of paperwork never ended. She now had an exact count of every person going to Scotland, whether soldier, pilot, whatever; and their dependents. 1535 personnel in uniform; and a total of 745 children and 911 wives and husbands. Mostly wives, needless to say. She was happy that there were now 4 other female pilots; 2 Black Hawk, 1 Chinook and 1 Attack Little Bird. But no Apache pilots yet; and no copilots at all. But she vowed to work on that.

The number of uniformed personnel would go up; some of the base operations personnel would not be actually part of the Regiment. Security, MP, and so on; including the medical people for the clinic. And of course a chaplain and MWR people to run the PX and Commissary and such. Frankly she was looking at appointing Harkness as the Base commander. But in the end she realized that it would be a cop out. Even though Harkness had volunteered for it. She decided to start out wearing all the hats and then maybe dropping that one on Jim.

Liz had decided to take some days off around Labor Day, when most of the Regiment would be off anyway. She would do one more round of visits with Maria and the others; then her mom; then try and make one more picnic with the Crew and Posse as a good bye.

She had sent Harkness out to do one of the trips to Scotland and he had come back with a list of things they needed to sort out; and then he found out that the bearer of bad news always regrets it when she smiled sweetly at him and then told him the list was his to take care of.

She did one more on her own; found the buildings almost done; they were almost certain to have everything done before 1 October. She looked over the two boats for Helicopter support and thought they would do well. Then headed back and decided that on 21 September she would call for the exercise to get all the helicopters to Scotland in one go. And all the crews and pilots and copilots would go with them. The rest would come on airliners afterwards; and the dependents a week or so later.

The visit with her friends in Savanna was bitter sweet, despite their claims they would visit Scotland some time. They all knew that it would be some time before they saw each other again. They had one more slumber party at Maria’s house; she had just told everyone that she was pregnant for the fourth time. They lay around reminiscing about the way things were.  
“Remember that first day; Liz was the only one in the section that knew which way was up.”

“Yeah that formation was a riot. She was the only one that got it mostly right. The rest of us were disasters.”

“And the first time Maria had to fire her M16. Missing the target with every shot.”

“I remember most about 9/11 thinking that no one had any idea what was going to happen next.”

“By far the scariest time was waiting for Liz to make it back from that cluster fuck of a Field ASP and how endless that night seemed.”

“Our weddings with Liz as the Matron of Honor for all three of us.”

“Getting off that plane home and knowing I never wanted to leave again.”

Liz lay there remembering. Memories that would last a lifetime. She was very content at that moment.

Her mom was very happy with Ted; she was very happy that her mom was very happy. She liked Ted a lot. This visit was quite good. When she left for Scotland, Max and Aliya and James would stay with Nancy until they left for Scotland as well, so Nancy would have some more time with her grandchildren. Nancy made it quite plain that she would be coming over to visit now and then.

Liz sat in the office of the 160th Commander for what was probably the last time, and they reminisced as well. He would be moving on to SOCOM Aviation chief with a promotion to Brigadier. Liz had not yet met his successor; they were bringing in an Aviation Brigade XO that had been with the 160th a few years earlier, before Liz had got there. HIS XO had not been chosen yet. He looked at Liz.  
“Frankly I knew as soon as I met you that you were going to shake things up. And that it was a good thing. So none of it really surprised me. Honestly, in three years I expect you to succeed me as SOCOM Aviation Chief.”

Liz slowly nodded. It did make sense in a way.

On the morning of September 21, at 0700 Liz made a phone call and set off the exercise, called Get out of Town, and things started rolling. She deliberately had made sure all the aircraft were ready to fly. So the crews had to run around taking things off, defueling them to a level compatible with air transport; remove rotors and the like. Pack up parts and supplies; and their own personal gear. The Air Force responded with C5B’s and C-17’s. The Chinooks would be going in the C5B’s and everything else in the C-17’s. Only one Chinook could fit in; but they found they could squeeze in a Little Bird as well. 3 Companies of Chinooks meant 24 C5B flights; only 12 were available to each would make two flights. But that meant all the Chinooks and Little Boys would go with them. That left the 24 Super Apache’s and 30 Black Hawks. C-17’s could take two of each. So that would mean 27 C-17 flights. And that was only the Aircraft. Liz had her personal Apache and two others as spares. They had 16 C-17’s handy and thus one flight took care of most of them and the second flight would be able to bring all the other equipment and spare birds as well. The Pilot, Co Pilot and crew would go with their birds on the Transports. They had vehicles that would be going and they got crammed full of everything imaginable.

The first transports arrived 7 hours after the call; and were gone 3 hours later. Liz would go with the first wave; Harkness would come with the last. The final assigned transport did not arrive until 12 hours after the first; mechanical delays.

The MOD of course had been told of the exercise, and had arranged for the commercial flights for the next few days to be canceled so that the airfield was totally at the 161st’s disposal. Outside of that no one was told. So when Liz arrived on the first C-17, there was no one there. Which suited her fine. She was able to stand off to the side and take notes. The first one landing had two Apache’s on it. They had arranged for the area to be sealed off by MOD police and that was all. Apache’s would be the first ones to land as they would then theoretically be able to protect the site. The only thing missing from all of this was armaments; none were brought. There was a supply waiting in newly finished storage bunkers. But each chopper was made ready to fly ASAP.

Needless to say the site of one C-17 after another landing; parking and scrambling going on to pull Super Apache’s out and start putting their rotors back on caught some attention. People started to gather beyond the perimeter even if it was almost midnight. At one time there were seven C-17’s on the field at once, though they were taking off and landing replacing each other. It took half an hour to get the birds off of each C-17. Sometimes a little more. The process continued all night; and by dawn the next day all of the Apaches were there and in flying condition. Though none were flown off; but they were started up and then took off and moved a short distance to where they were parked. The first Chinooks arrived at 0300. It took a fair amount longer to load them and the Little Bird then get them off. Each transport had a replacement crew so that none of them flew too much; and so far outside of the initial delay none of the transports had had any real mechanical problems. The first Chinook started up; hovered then moved a little bit before setting down at 0500. 2 hours was considered quite good for that large helicopter. Liz caught some sleep curled up on a sleeping bag beside her Apache and woke up again at 0900. The procession continued on.

At the 24 hour mark just over half the Regiment was in Scotland, if rather less was in flying condition. The second wave started arriving at 1600 that day. The last one of the second wave arrived at 0200 on the following morning. And did not leave until 0400, 23 September. The last Helicopter was flying at 0600. It took only 43 hours. Liz had estimated the best they could expect was 48. Some people had gotten a fair amount of sleep but not all that much. So Liz gathered everyone and told them to just grab a bag and get some sleep. They had a local catering service bring in food and drinks. Luckily the weather was dry, if not particularly warm. All the helicopters had been moved into their hangers. And then everyone just got a quick bite to eat and sacked out. 

This made a fair bit of news in the UK; at a distance the networks soon set up cameras and Liz was told that they kept up coverage continuously until it was over. She refused requests to appear or talk to them; the MOD just said that it was an exercise to see how fast they could move the Regiment. Liz woke up at 1100, and stretched and then headed over to see what was going on. Most everyone was still sacked out. She went over to the new operations building and noted that some of her baggage was stacked out there. She went to her office and sat behind her desk; her boxes of files were sitting beside it. She saw that the phones were up and running and called Max and her family and told them that they had arrived just fine; Max told her that the news had shown this in updates.

Liz then called the Base Ops section; it had come over as well and was starting to get up and running. The Lt on duty informed her that her quarters were ready for her to move in. She found that she was only a little over a third of a mile away and walked there. It was a brisk late September day, clear but some clouds and a temperature of about 52. It would probably warm up to about 55 or so. And a never ending breeze. Her personal gear had been brought and left inside the door; a key was waiting for her. She rooted around and found some clean clothes and then a towel and soap and shampoo and tried out her shower; it felt great. Feeling much better, she noted that the quarters had standard furniture; and the sheets and such that she had ordered were there. It would really not take that much for her to move right in. Since the base was so small, scooters and bikes would be used and her scooter with a big pair of wings on the front was waiting outside her door and she tried it and found it fun to scoot to HQ. When she got there, it was just after noon. And most everyone was up. She told them all to see if their quarters were ready and if so to head over.

The rest of the day people started to settle in; Liz stopped by her quarters and unpacked her personal gear. The Mess Hall was up and running; it was contracted out. So far the food was good. The PX and Commissary was stocked; they were being run by family members of the Regiment or the support personnel; they had been the only ones sent over first. The MWR people as well. Liz scooted around the base and saw that most of it was up and running; some were still not but it would come soon. She stopped by and found Harkness in his office snoozing behind his desk; she smiled and moved on. Everyone was tired; she had made it plain that the rest of the day would be for them to recover and rest up. 24 September would be the first real day that the Regiment would be on the job. 

Liz felt really tired and after eating a quick dinner just hit the sack at 1900; the remaining jet lag had caught up. She was up and going by 0530; hit the mess hall by 0600 and was in her office by 0630. Final arrangements for the official standup that would happen on the 27th had to be made. There was going to be a fairly big ceremony with all sorts of brass and such present. Which reminded her; she checked that the VIP quarters were ready to go. She did not know at that point just who was going to show up but they needed to be ready.

She first went to the hangers and looked around; she wanted to talk to some of the maintenance people about whether they should have bubbles here or not. Dust and such were not a problem; but the humidity was. That might be good enough reason; she would see. She found her Battalion Maintenance chief looking things over.

Major Jack Dawson had worked his way up from LT in the Maintenance Battalion and had spent more time in the 160th then just about anyone else. He had seen them come and go; some good, some not so good, none really bad. But Colonel Parker was absolutely one of a kind. And that was leaving out how tiny and cute she was. He had never seen anyone that could go from cheerful and nice to 100% mega bitch as fast as she did. But he had to admit she only did it when someone really screwed up; and then not if it was an honest mistake. But God help you if you were careless or lazy and screwed up; He better because no one else would. He was not surprised at all that she was here in the hangers early; no office dweller she.

“Major Dawson; how are things?” She liked him; she had really worked on him to come to the 161st; he had been in the SOAR for a long time and knew everyone and the choppers like the back of his hand.

“So far so good, Colonel. I have not found anything bad yet.”

“We have all our needed equipment and spare parts?”

“Have not done a full inventory yet but it looks like it.”

“Good. I have a question for you? Would it be worthwhile having bubbles here like we used in Afghanistan? For the humidity?”

He considered that. “I don’t think so at this time. But we will have to see. Humidity is a concern. But the more likely reason for having bubbles would be to heat them up. No matter how good the heating system, once you open the doors this building and the others will get cold fast. And that makes it so much tougher using tools and especially doing anything with the electronics.”

“OK. Wanted to know. And the point about heating is well taken; I think that will be our biggest problem here; considering it never really gets warm.”

“Let alone hot. I was talking to a local, yesterday, and asked him when was the last time it got over 25(78 F) Celsius. He had to think about it. Finally said it was a couple of years ago.” 

“Yeah. Oh well. So as far as you can see, if we got a mission today we have no problem?”

“From our side of the house, none.”

“Just needed to verify. The ceremony for the official Stand Up will be on the 28th. Depending on the weather it might have to be in one of the hangers. Check on that and make plans.”

“OK, Colonel.”

Liz then headed for the offices.

She tweaked Harkness about finding him sleeping at his desk and moved to her office. They had recruited secretaries and clerks from among the dependents and had been able to find enough. But they would not be there for a few more days. Liz intended for the dependents to start arriving the next day; arrangements had been made to charter some 747’s. They would all be there on the 26th and 27th. Her family would be in on the 26th. She checked the incoming messages to see if there was anything important and then checked her computer and her official email. She was glad to see that all the teachers they needed for the school were now in hand. It would begin classes on the 15th of October. She had been lucky in that they had been able to get some of the DOD teachers from bases closing elsewhere in Germany to come here. Ramstein AFB would be the last US Base in Germany; Miesau and the other depots and posts were closed or about to close. This was long overdue in her mind.

The need for US Ground troops in Germany died with the cold war. It took almost 20 years after the first ones pulled out for the last ones to start to go. As far as Liz was concerned the only place that the US needed ground troops overseas was Korea; that mess would not end anytime soon. While Russia had to be a concern, they would have plenty of time to get troops to Europe if anything big started to brew. With the Ukraine clearly not allowing Russia to intimidate them, Russia would have to take care of them first before moving west. Which would, in cold practical terms, give the US plenty of time to move troops back to Europe. And in this new economic times, that was an important consideration. Liz knew she was very lucky to be in the one part of the DOD that had not been all that affected by the defense cuts. The Navy was not in too bad a shape; what with Russia starting to rebuild hers, if slowly; and China still trying to build theirs. Their first carrier that they had home built had had to go back for modifications and they had had other troubles. It amused Liz that the Chinese had spent so much time and effort stealing the US’s defense secrets; then refused to copy the parts that worked well. Instead trying to improve on them for prides sake and PR; and finding out that unless you really understood the system trying to improve it almost certainly meant mistakes. But the future threat was clearly there. The Air Force had been forced to close some bases and retire older planes; but the Army had taken the biggest cut. They had managed to keep three of the heavy divisions but the 25th was stood down as well as the two independent brigades and two of the independent cavalry brigades. Two Airborne brigades had also been disbanded. Which was a help in other ways since their equipment would fill the gaps in other units that had come from combat or accidents or just plain being worn out.

Which was another reason the 161st had been stood up. Special Ops was seen as the best force multiplier short of putting heavy brigades on the ground. Liz knew that in some ways the Special Operations command was expected to take up the slack from the reduced regular forces. Of course everyone was trying to predict where the next conflict would be. Liz thought it was stupid to even try; the so called experts had been wrong much more often than they had been right for the last 70 years since WW2. They had not predicted Korea or Vietnam; no one thought Iraq would go to war with Iran then take Kuwait; and so on.

That there were trouble areas was not in contention; Korea; Pakistan/India; smoldering problems in Iraq and Afghanistan; Iran. In Europe there were tensions between Russia and just about everyone; the mess that was the former Yugoslavia was still percolating. Tensions in parts of the Philippines and Indonesia; China still rumbling about this or that. In South America things were still tense with Venezuela as Maduro had somehow survived; if cut down to size by internal problems. Cuba post Castro still had not figured out what it wanted to do.

Then there was the Middle East; things were still not good in Egypt or Libya or Syria. Morocco had settled down. Then farther into Africa the Somalia mess; though the pirate problem had settled down once merchant ships started arming themselves. A lot of pirates had been killed Liz knew due to some Special Operations. That entire problem had gotten much smaller. The rest of the continent was not in good shape at all. But the likelihood of the US being involved outside of the Middle East was very slim. So Liz just did not try and figure out what was next; just to have contingency plans for moving wherever. 

Liz then got a call, while she was working at whittling down the paperwork, that the first planes with dependents on them would be arriving around 1000. As far as she knew her family was on one of the first planes. Liz had also been able to get a fair amount of everyone’s HHG air shipped on some available transports and they were in a warehouse right on base. The rest plus the vehicles people were bringing would not be there for at least a month or more. She had made it plain to her brigade that a car would not be a necessity on base. They would have busses to take people to Campbeltown. And if you wanted to drive around the rest of the continent there were rental cars. She had made the point that as small as Europe was compared to the US, using their rail services was a more sensible way to go. 

Liz knew that expecting real work out of people waiting for their families to arrive was just plain dumb so she didn’t. She had released all that were expecting people that day from duty; and the same for the next day. The 28th would be taken up with the ceremony; so the first real active day for the Brigade would be the 29th. Which was a Friday.

Before she headed out to greet the first planes, Liz looked at the messages from the various units wanting to train with the 161st. SOCOM had scheduled meetings for her with Polish and Austrian reps to start to work on planning exercises. They would be starting on the 5th. Another big change coming was that USAEUR was going away. The current one would be the last. Liz was surprised it had taken this long for that one to go away. EUCOM now was a more realistic command. NATO had quietly allowed some of its HQs to wither away. SACEUR had gone away as well. NATO was really no longer centralized. Liz would answer to CENTCOM, EUCOM or AFRICOM. And of course SOCOM. And if somehow they got involved in an India Pakistan dustup, PACOM. Only SOUTHCOM and NORTHCOM would not be her problem no matter what.

One other thing that Liz had been working on was making sure relations with the 352nd SOG at Mildenhall were good. They had the only MC-130 tankers around. The Air Force had their transports at Ramstein, and Liz worked on good relations with them as well. 

The planes did start to land around 1000. Max, Aliya and James were on the first plane. For the moment Liz dropped the commander persona and became wife and mother. She had arranged for some golf cart types of small vehicles and they were busy ferrying the people and the baggage/luggage to the terminal where the MOD had made sure some Customs officials were there to take care of the paperwork. This was not the usual way dependents got to the UK but since they were coming en masse she had been able to pull a few strings. Liz waited for all the paperwork and stamping of passports to get done and then took her family to their new home. The rest of the day was spent unpacking and settling in.  
Liz found that she needed that day with her family to really get grounded and ready for her position. The great thing about this base is that her home is just a short walk, really, away from her office. With her scooter, she can be to either one or the other in just a couple of minutes.

The next day saw the rest of the dependents arrive and more settling in; and making preparations for the 28th.

At 1000 on the 28th the entire Regiment is in formation (the weather was decent if not great) in front of the main hanger. Every one of the unit’s helicopters is spread out behind them. SOCOM is the one to make it official; her congressman was there as well. EUCOM and the DEFENSE SECRETARY are the VIP’s. Liz noticed that virtually every regiment in the British Army, as well as the Royal Marines, SAS and Royal Commandos has either their commander or their XO there. As well as a senior RAF general and Royal Navy Admiral. After SOCOM activates them, Liz turns to the Regiment.  
“161st, STAND UP.”

With that SOCOM with the Honor Guard marches to the Temporary Viewing Stand while the whole Regiment moves to their Choppers. Every single one starts up and then Liz in her command Apache takes off first followed by the Apache’s by company and then the Little Birds by company, then the Black Hawks and last the Chinooks. They go out and then into the formation that Liz had been drilling them on. In a huge V with Liz at the Apex, the Apaches move over the field at 2000 feet; right below them at 1500 are the Little Birds with the Attack versions in the middle in the same formation; then behind them in tight boxes the Black Hawks followed by the Chinooks. The entire formation does a complete circle of the airfield then the Chinooks fall out and land and their crew’s line up; then the Black Hawks do the same; then the Little Birds then the Apaches. When Liz as the last one goes to attention; the ground crews and rest of the Regiment march in formation past them. They turn and stand at attention. Then Liz calls out.

“161st, FALL OUT.”

From that point on it is an open house. Inside the main hanger a huge banquet has been laid out. For the VIP’s there is a somewhat more refined luncheon in the main conference room of the HQ building. Liz mingles and works the crowd; this is tiring and keeping a pleasant smile is a must but Liz knows that this is part of the price she pays for being here.

Everyone compliments her on their flight and formation. Liz had calculated it to be that way and was glad to see that it worked. This had been covered by the media and was shown in the UK and in the US. Finally that afternoon everyone is gone and she tells her senior officers “Well done; now go be with your families.”

The next day they really began to get down to making plans. Liz had talked to the various senior officers from the regiments and had asked them to forward in writing their training proposals. She was due to fly out that next week to first Poland then Austria. After meeting with the battalion commanders, she headed out to tour the entire base. She was going to see everything and she did. She started at 1000 and except for an hour at lunch kept at it until 1700. Harkness was right beside her with a notepad as they looked at all the details. They checked the new storage bunkers for munitions and Liz as an old 89B was glad to see that looked well. Then the hangers and the HQ building then the PX, Commissary, Health Clinic and the rest. Nothing major had been found wrong; and Liz hoped it stayed that way.

Over the weekend Liz relaxed and stayed with her family; James was fascinated as they went to Campbeltown for the first time and wandered around. Aliya was a little quiet and Liz made a point to talk to her alone.  
“Honey, you know if something is wrong you can talk to me.”

Aliya would be 15 in January and Liz knew that was an awkward age; she still remembered it.

Aliya sighed and looked at her mother.   
“I guess I am still sad at leaving my friends. But I do know a couple of the girls and a few of the boys that will be at the school. Just not well. We did not hang out that much. And of course being your daughter. But I will be ok. It is just a big change.”

Liz cuddled her daughter and realized that there really no words that mattered that she could use. She had to remember that as her daughter it would be tougher for Aliya. She just hoped she would be OK.


	17. Merry Olde England

Monday morning she was handed a large batch of folders containing proposed training plans from the various British regiments. The stack sitting on her desk was almost higher than her head. She looked at it and sighed. Then she called a meeting of her three flying battalions and their XO’s. In the conference room she then split up the training proposals and handed them out to the six officers.  
“Look at each one and see which ones are strictly one on ones and which ones have proposals for multiple regiments. Group them on that basis.”

After half an hour there are four folders showing multiple regiments and 12 with single regiments.

“OK, the singles we put aside now let’s look at the multiples.

As it turns out the Royal Marines have all their units involved; sort of expected. The Commandos and the Special Boat Service, which in spite of their name use helicopters on occasion.

The SAS was so small that Liz figured they could squeeze them in.

The 19th and 52nd Brigades were multi units.

The Parachute Regiment. Liz really could not say no to them; besides they were a good shot at being in anything that was big anyway.

The rest of the Regiments Liz decided to see if she could do a big training event and have all of them there; transport them from all over the UK to one place to train and then take them back.

Liz then drafted letters to the SAS, Royal Marines, Para’s and the 19th and 52nd Brigades that she wanted a meeting to discuss details. She also sent a message to the RAF officer she had met previously to see what was cooking as regards Cyprus.  
Then she proceeded to study the details of the visit to Poland on the 5th and 6th and to Austria on the 7th and 8th. In Poland she would meet their Defense Minister and Commander of their army; but the unit they would train with was their 6th Air Assault Brigade.

In Austria, it would be a little different. For one they were not part of NATO. Two, they were very much only into peacekeeping. The reason this had been arranged was that it would be mountain training and the Austrians were very short of Helicopters. Liz was going to quietly suggest looking into making arrangements with the Italians; they were in NATO and they had plenty of mountains. Not that she did not want to visit Austria. She wondered what was behind all this.

Liz was also curious about the lack of guidance as regards either visit; nothing really extensive from any of the HQs she reported to. The fact that she was going alone to both was also curious. No entourage, which for her was fine, but she was curious why not. She decided to make a call.   
The 160th Commander only had days left before he went to SOCOM as its Aviation Chief. He looked around his office and knew he would miss it. Then his phone rang. “Sir, Its Colonel Parker.”  
“Well, Liz, what’s up?”

“Just curious if you heard anything about the Polish and Austrian training missions that I am going to visit them about this week. I have received virtually no guidance from any of the HQs and so far I am going alone. I have a hunch this is NOT usual.”

He leaned back and thought. “No, have not heard anything. I will be at SOCOM tomorrow; I will ask around. It is unusual for them to not send anyone with you, I agree. I think you need to bring someone with you; pick a young LT and dub him your aide while there. Pick an observant one.”

“OK. Sounds like a good idea. I mean all they gave me was the protocol packet. BDU during official business; MESS DRESS CLASS A for the formal dinner there at each place.”

“Well make sure whoever you take has a Mess Dress then.”

Liz rang off and cursed quietly. She wondered who had Mess Dress here anyway.

The officers of the 161st looked at the email and then looked at each other. Why did the Colonel want to know who had mess dress?  
Liz was not really surprised at the answer she got later that day. There were a grand total of 4 officers in the entire Regiment beside herself that had Mess Dress Class A’s. One Captain, two 1st Lt’s and one 2nd Lt. The 2nd Lt had also put in that it was a present from his mother and had never been out of the box; he also doubted that it fit him since he had gone into weight lifting. Liz just had to grin at that. The Captain was in the Maintenance Battalion; he was a true nerd who was the Regimental Computer whiz. IF it was not a computer his interest was minimal. She wondered why he had bothered with it. So that left the two 1st Lt’s.

Candidate #1 was a pilot in the Black Hawks. She had heard that he was considered somewhat of a hot shot and ladies’ man. To put it politely. 

Candidate #2 was a pilot in the Little Birds. Attack. Platoon Commander. She told her secretary to bring his file. She had a hunch that she was stuck anyway but needed to know more.

Russ Conkel was a good Little Bird attack pilot and he knew it; but he did not boast or brag. He figured that if you had to do that, you were not as good as you thought you were. He loved being in the 161st; it had been hard to advance in the 160th because the Little Bird pilots loved to fly it and had to be pried out of the cockpit. He had gone from #4 in his platoon and #7 in his company to #1 in his platoon and #2 in his new company. He had a fair amount of experience in Special Operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan; and he had a few not so good experiences with the Company; just like about everyone else unfortunate enough to have to work with them. He was also not a bird chaser like a lot of the others; he was happily married and expecting their first child in the next few months. The move to Scotland was a little off because of that; but the Health Clinic here was very well staffed. Life was good for him and he had no real worries. Then his Battalion Commander called him into his office.  
“Lt, close the door.”

“I just got word She wants to see you ASAP. In her office.”

Russ stared at him; his eyes wide. “Why, sir?”

“She didn’t say. What did you do?”

“Nothing, Sir. Honest.”

“Well you did something. She wants you there NOW.”

As he headed to HQ Russ racked his brain trying to figure out what he could have done to have Doberman wanting to take a bite out of him. There were lots of stories about what happened when you screwed up and she unloaded on you. Stories were all over Campbell about what had gone down at the ASP. All anyone knew was that within 6 months everyone but Parker was retired or out of the military. From the Division commander on down. It had been a disaster that she had fixed; but the price had been heavy. Blood waist deep and body parts everywhere. And then there was Afghanistan and her taking over a NG Brigade and putting multiple senior officers in the stockade in minutes. That scandal had taken down a Governor. By the time he reached the HQ, and it only took a few minutes, he was almost shaking. He got to Her office and was shown right in; the secretary closing the door behind him. It sounded more like the door on a Jail cell shutting him in. He stood in front of her desk and threw the best salute he had.  
“Lt Conkel reporting as ordered, Sir.”  
Liz returned the salute. “Sit down, Lt.” He looked like a school boy about to appear before the principal after shooting spitwads at the teacher.

“Do you know why I called you in?” Maybe this was a little cruel but she had to find some fun somewhere.

“No sir.” For the life of him he did not.

“You have a mess dress class A.”

He blinked at her and could only nod.

“I am going to Poland on the 5th and 6th and Austria on the 7th and 8th to discuss training for the Regiment there. There are formal dinners at each; and I have to wear Mess Dress. So does my aide.”

“Aide?”

“You, Lt Conkel, will be my aide while I am at those visits. I cannot go alone; I guess it is not protocol. Since an aide is not a position that a Regimental Commander has, I have to make one. Of the officers in the Regiment that have a Mess Dress, you got picked. Why did you get one?”

“To get married in, sir.” 

“Good reason. Gotta sabre?”

“Yes Sir.”

“Good. You are set. Now here is your mission: find out what an aide is supposed to do between now and when we leave.” She stood up and so did he. “Dismissed.”

He slowly wandered back to his area in a daze. The Battalion commander saw him; and figuring it was pretty bad, dragged him into his office. 

“OK, how bad is it?”

“I am going to Poland and Austria as her aide. She just needed someone that had a mess dress.”

The major almost fell off his chair laughing.

That evening at his quarters his wife asked him how the day went.

“Got called into see the Colonel.”

Her eyes got wide.  
“What did you do?”

“Nothing. Since I happen to have a mess dress class A I get to go with her on an official visit to Poland and Austria. She cannot go alone; some regulation I guess; so she needs someone to act as her aide and must have a mess dress for the formal dinners.”

“Oh, come on you have to have a better story than that.”

When he insisted that was it and showed her the file he had to study she almost had the baby there, she laughed so hard.

Liz that night was regaling her family with the story; Max just shook his head.  
“You really have a mean streak in you.”

Meanwhile the story got out and all of Russ’s friends (or at least he thought they were friends) had a ball with it.

“So, think Doberman will have a collar and chain for you? She did that to Will.”

“Remember, her bark is much less nasty than her bite.”

“I never heard of anyone having to clean a Chinook with a tooth brush until she made that poor kid that got caught Drunk and Disorderly do it. Took him over a week. And rumor is that was not the worst detail she thought up for him. Don’t think he ever went out drinking again. So you really don’t want to screw up.”

Liz spent the next few days boning up on protocol. Meanwhile she was also having some fun getting a small jet to take her there. Turns out they were all in use or in the shop. Then she got an idea.

Colonel Harkness stared at his commander.  
“What?”

“Why not?”

He opened his mouth then closed it. “I guess because it is not done.”

“Is that a good reason?”

“Maybe you should go upstairs on this one.”

“Probably true.” So Liz headed to her office and told her secretary to get EUCOM on the phone. In a few minutes she was talking to the EUCOM chief of Staff.  
“Colonel, I am having a hard time getting a small jet to go to Europe. Nothing is available. So either I take a big one which is a waste; or I have another option. But it was suggested I take this upstairs so you are it. Any reason, since it is only my aide and myself, that I cannot take My Apache instead?”  
There was silence for a moment “Let me get back to you colonel.”

Liz grinned as she set down the phone. That ought to stir things up.

EUCOM looked at his Chief of Staff. “What is the problem getting her a jet? What about mine?”

“Sir for one reason or another they are all either reserved for high level or are in the hanger like yours is.”

“Well that is unbelievable.”

“She has been checking and I just did; it is true. There just are not any that can get there in time. The rest are in use or not in service.”

“Well, then, inform the Poles and the Austrians that Colonel Parker is bringing her Apache with her. One way to make a splash.”

The Defense Minister looked at his aide. “She is coming in what?”

Liz then called the 352nd SOG and asked for air refueling over the North Sea on 5 May. And then asked about getting it over the Channel on 7 May on her way back from Austria. That got some head scratching going on there.

Liz looked over the Super Apache. Her crew chief had taken an Auxiliary fuel tank and had taken out the bladder; then they had fastened a door for it. Then did it again. Liz would take a real tank and the cargo tank; one on each wing. Thus her and Lt Conkel would have plenty of room to take their gear. No Hellfire’s or 2.75’s or Sidewinders, but the magazine of the 30MM would be full. Without the rockets that would save over 1800 pounds all together. In the meantime he worked on it to make sure it could make this trip without needing any maintenance.

Liz found that as big as the tank was, she almost filled it. She had four uniforms plus her mess dress and just in case her other Class A. Not to mention some casual clothes and underwear, shoes, combat boots and her sabre. And they had to be in luggage not just jammed in there.

Meanwhile just to have fun she got Lt Conkel an official AIDE rope. She told him that since it was an official visit no collar and chain. He was not all that sure she was joking.

They took off at 0400; and headed South East, though more east than south. Liz relaxed and let Russ play for a while once they got to 5000 feet.

Russ was very surprised at how responsive it was; not as much, of course, as a Little Bird but it still was very nimble.

400 miles out, after having switched to one auxiliary, with only 5% left in the main tank, they contacted the Tanker and Liz went right up and latched on. It only took a little over 6 minutes to fill up and they unlatched and took off again. It was just light when they tanked and Liz let Russ fly for a while again. They contacted Polish Air Control as they crossed the border into Poland at around 0800 and they were directed right into the General Aviation Airport-Babice. Not the major international one. Which Liz was quite happy with. It was not a big Airport, but looked ok. There was an Honor Guard and they had put a nice X down for her to land on and she did. Taking a deep breath she shut her down then said to Russ.

“Show time.”

Liz popped her hatch and got out as Rus did his. She made sure her Beret, Green, was on right. She figured that would wig them out. As Always while on duty Liz wore her sidearm. She had made sure Rus did as well. This signified they meant business. 

She walked up to the Honor Guard and Saluted the Officer in Front who returned it with his sword. She had read the protocol right and she followed the Honor guard to where several officers and a civilian stood. Rus behind her one step and to her right. They had actually practiced it. Liz marched up to them and saluted them again. The officers returned it and the Official bowed. Then one officer stepped forward.  
“Colonel Parker, welcome to Poland. I am General Sosabowski.”

“General, your name is very much like one I remember from Arnhem.”

“Thank You Colonel. He was my grandfather.” 

“I am sure that he is looking down on you with great pride.”  
He smiled wider. “It is my hope, Colonel. You are a student of Military History?”

“Not officially; but I do read a lot on it. My country owed a great debt to Pulaski and Kosciuszko in our revolutionary war. Casmir Pulaski is one of only seven in history to be given honorary US Citizenship.”

He blinked at that then bowed. “Your beauty is only rivaled by your intelligence and grace, Colonel.”

Liz blushed at that. “Aw, general, you are a charmer. But I guess it is time for business.”

He bowed again and presented the Defense Minister and the Commander of the Army. HE was commander of the 6th Brigade that they would be training with.

Liz stood with the others as an Honor Company passed in review. Then they went into the small terminal. In there was a conference room. Liz was lucky in that they got down to business quickly; the Defense Minister and the others going leaving her, Russ, the General and his aide who had a bulging folder. They spent the next few hours going over the joint training mission. It would be a simulated assault by his brigade. Also some of Poland Commando unit wanted to participate. Liz then turned to Russ.  
“My Aide, Lt Conkel, flies the attack version of the Little Bird now but has flown the other. Have your Commando’s talk to him. I imagine they would like the idea of going in on them.”

The rest of it was details; the General wanted to know how fast this could be done. Liz looked him right in the eye.  
“Next week if you want. I just have to check with the transport command to make sure they have some available on short notice. The Little Birds would have to go; everything else can fly here. But I would have to make sure the tankers are available. Outside of that it would be fine.”

He obviously liked that and agreed. Liz pulled out her satellite phone.  
“Jim. Liz. Need you to check on availability of transport and tankers one week from now. For the whole Brigade going to Poland. Yes that fast. Check and call me back.”

She shut it off and looked at the General. “We should know in a few hours.”

“Then let us see the training area. It is about one hour from here by helicopter. Yours can refuel quickly.”

In 20 minutes they headed out, Liz following an older Russian transport helicopter. She enjoyed the flight; noting the terrain. IT was just north of Krakow, a fairly wooded, hilly terrain. The other helicopter then began a sweeping turn; she could see impact areas. Finally it set down at what was clearly a small training base. There she met more of the staff of the 6th Brigade; most of them spoke English well and that made things easier. A quick lunch of polish bratwurst and Beer and they went back to work on the exercise.

At about 1500 they were done; everyone seemed satisfied. Then the General told her of the very formal dinner they would have in Warsaw. There was a modern motel in Warsaw that had a heliport; he smiled at her and told her that she could go there and he would have an honor guard make sure no one bothered it. The Dinner began at 1900. Liz got a bearing for the Hotel; and then saluted Him and his staff and they took off. It took less than an hour to get there. Liz put the Apache right down on the heliport that was separated from the rest of the parking lot. An honor guard was waiting. She returned their salute and several bell boys rushed forward; Liz and Russ opened up the cargo tanks and the Hotel employees took the luggage. Liz and Russ followed them in.

It was a rather plush Hotel; and Liz enjoyed a nice long bath before getting dressed. As she lay there, she hoped Austria went as well. She would be arriving a little earlier since they had already finished here. Harkness had called back three hours later and told her it was all set up; Liz told him to get the ball rolling. She was able to use her laptop and the WIFI at the Hotel to email all the details. At 1830, all gussied up, she left her room and Rus was waiting; they moved down the elevator to the lobby; attracting a fair amount of attention. Both of them were wearing their Capes as it was night and a little cold.

An official Limousine picked them up and it was only 15 minutes to the Presidential Palace. Liz quietly told Russ that this was probably going to be very boring but that is the way it is. Just smile slightly and nod and do nothing else.

Needless to say someone had noticed an Apache landing at a major Hotel in Warsaw; and things began to buzz. This visit had not been mentioned by the ministry and that made things even more interesting. Liz’s Apache was fairly well known and the Doberman painting on the side easy to identify. The media was tipped off and questions began to get asked. Then a hotel employee tipped off a cousin at the main newspaper; and the blanks got filled in.  
Meanwhile it was not as bad as Liz had feared; while she did have to greet the President of Poland and some other high officials, General Sosabowski had made sure she was next to him with Russ on her other side. The food was actually pretty good. And better yet she did not have to make a speech. Overall it was a nice night. They got back to the motel just after midnight; she asked for a wake up at 0700. She had made sure that Harkness had called the Austrians and told them she would be a day early. 

They ate a quick breakfast at the hotel and had a fairly good sized crowd when they cranked her up and took off. There were news cameras this time. They got up to 5000 feet and headed south and west. It was not that far; Brumowski Air Base was very close to Vienna and it was a small field; mostly for Helicopters so she was quite happy to land there. They were not yet in the mountains so it was easy. They got in right at 1100. Once again a small Honor guard; this time there was no other dignitaries. A colonel was waiting for her. He returned her salute.  
“Colonel Parker. General Kragritter is waiting for you at the MOD.”

They got into a nice car, not a Limo, and headed there. It took about 30 minutes.

Once there she was escorted to a conference room and met the General, who was the head of Austria’s army. He was a bluff man who got right to the point.  
“IT is good that you are early. The weather will deteriorate tomorrow. Today we can show you what we wish to do.”

An aide stepped forward and showed Liz the plans. Their small Special Operations unit, Jagdkommando, was around 300 men. They wanted to try several operations; valley to mountain; and mountain to mountain. Liz saw no trouble with this. She wanted to have her Regiment get some mountain time in case they had to go back to Afghanistan. She looked at the General.  
“When do you want to do this?”

“Either this month or perhaps April.”

“We are going to Poland next week; starting on the 15th. We will be there four days. We can then come right here. Starting the 20th or 21st.”

That surprised him but he nodded. “That would be good.”

So they finished the plan then the General told her they would have a transport Chopper pick them up and they could then see the areas concerned. He told her the formal Dinner was tomorrow evening. Half an hour later they were at the small airport and on a Sikorsky and spent the next two hours where they wanted the operations. It was beautiful country and Liz figured they would enjoy it.

They got back to the small airfield and they were told that a car would pick them up to their motel. The General told her that unless something came up they would not have any need to do anything until 1800 the next night for the formal dinner. Russ told her he would wander a little bit; she told him she would probably do a little but would be working on her report as well.

The dinner at the hotel was nice and Liz turned in early. She realized that alone time with nothing much to do would be a rarity in her life from now on and she decided to enjoy it. Sleeping in the next morning then taking a long bath was bliss. She ate a light breakfast then wandered around Vienna in casual clothes; ate at a sidewalk café and just wandered around until 1500 and then went back and gussied up again. She noted that the weather to the west had deteriorated and she could see that they would have been unable to view the areas today. So they got lucky.

This was noticeably less elaborate and more basic than Poland was. As a matter of fact of the attendees only about a dozen were in military uniform. Russ after looking around quietly told Liz that she was the most decorated person in the room. It was fairly boring and they were lucky to escape by 2000. At 0800 they were back to the little field; the Apache was refueled while they watched and they were gone by 0900. The weather was not the greatest but it was mostly south and west so they were able to move through it. They had gone down to 5% on the main tank and were at 25% for the last auxiliary when they tanked up over the English Channel. They landed at home at just after 1400. Liz told her ground crew that the Apache had behaved beautifully and she was very happy. Liz then headed straight home. She would wait until the next day to worry about her report on the trip.

The next day started the preparations for the training missions. Turned out that the 352nd SOG was in the mood for some training so their request worked out well. Ramstein called back and let them know there would be enough C-17’s to transport all the Little Birds. One good thing about Austria and Poland being relatively close was that even the Little Birds could make it without transport. So the transports would only have to show when they were done there. With just seven days to prepare some were freaking out; Liz made it a point to have her Battalion commanders remind people that there was plenty of time to get things done as long as you were organized.

In the meantime, Liz made sure the British regiments and company were informed that they needed to give time frames for when they wanted to do things; the RAF got back to them and indicated Cyprus would be happy to welcome them in January or February. That suited Liz since it would be nice to go someplace warm at that time. She also asked the RAF to see who might want to participate. Liz had a hunch that a lot of people would like to be warm that time of year.

The days went by quickly and soon it was time to leave. The C-17’s had come in and picked up the Little Birds the day before. So they were already waiting at the Airport the Pols had chosen. It was near the training area and a military airport anyway. The Chinooks went first; then the Black Hawks, followed by the Apache’s. They had to space them out so that the refueling area would not be too crowded. 

Finally the time came and they cranked up and headed off; the crews and everyone else were on the Black Hawks already gone. So it was kind of lonely there sitting on the tarmac.

It was a fairly boring first two hours until they got to the refueling area; that broke things up. Liz had decided not to have a permanent copilot so she moved people around; that way she got to know the younger copilots. The 161st had a few extra’s just in case and Liz made sure they got in as much flight time as possible. Today it was Trevor Wilson, a WO1 fresh out of aviation training. And he looked it; red haired and fresh faced he made Liz feel about 100 years old.

“Take the stick, Trevor. You need some time in.” said Liz just after refueling.

“Thanks Colonel.”

Trevor was very nervous when he was informed he would be the Colonel’s copilot for the events in Poland and Austria. He had sought out Lt Conkel and asked him for advice. He had been blunt.  
“Just do your job. Be prepared; that is what she looks for first. God help you if she thinks you are lazy or careless. She is a great pilot. I thought I was really good; but she is a lot better. And a lot of that comes from being prepared.”

So he had gotten the manual for the Super Apache and had just about memorized it. He had a week to prepare and he used every minute of it.

They were flying together if not in formation, basically grouped by platoon, all of them following the Colonel. Trevor for a few minutes just concentrated on not doing anything wrong. After a while a smiling Liz talked to him.

“Trevor, do not worry about flying straight and level; play a little if you want; get used to the bird. This is meant for you to learn; not to prove how straight you can fly.”

After a couple of minutes he began to move the stick, begin to get the feel of the chopper. A Super Apache was unlike anything he had ever flown before; even other regular apaches. 

Liz could feel him getting more confident; and debated letting him make the landing; but decided to do that when they got back. Give him more time to get used to the ship.

She took over as they neared the air field; the wind was up some and she needed to get used to it. They got in just about half an hour after the last Black Hawk.

The Little Birds were all ready to go; so Liz met the General and looked over the schedule. This day was blocked out for preparation. Which was almost done. Now Liz wanted to meet the various unit commanders; and have her battalion heads do so as well.

One thing it had been hard for Liz to do was give up Battalion command. And she had to work not to interfere with Major Derrick Landon, the Super Apache Battalion Commander. He had been in Company A of the 2nd Battalion; an original. He came in as a LT and got his Captains Bars and command of the Company not long after. He had done well in Afghanistan; and when the decision was made to create the 161st Liz had gone over the records and chose him as her battalion commander. Liz intended to use her Apache to oversee the mission; wander from place to place looking things over. So she was going to have to make sure she stayed out of his place as Battalion Commander. He, like herself, had kept a company command position. Trying to stay in the cockpit as long as possible.

After the meeting with the unit commanders, Liz was feeling much better about the mission. They had all been in NATO maneuvers before so the basic tactics and rules were known to them. She noticed that the Commandos had gravitated almost exclusively to the Little Bird companies. They really liked the thought of riding in on the sides of the small helicopters. The first day would have the insertion of the Commandos; the second day would have the all-out assault as the entire Brigade would swarm the target.

It was planned as this: the target is a well-defended high value one; so the Commandos go in the previous night and secure it; the rest of the brigade comes in to make sure the opposing forces cannot take it back. All the Black Hawks and Chinooks in the Regiment could transport one full battalion and half of the other; the rest would parachute in. The idea was for the Parachute force to land as immediate reinforcements for the Commandos; followed by the rest of the brigade in Helicopters. The Attack Little Birds would cover the insertion of the Commandos; the Apache’s would cover everything else. 

The target was a village that had been evacuated; it was situated along a small river and in a heavily wooded area. So the places a force could parachute in was limited; as were the possibilities for landing larger Helicopters like the Chinook. So the idea was for the Commandos to seize the actual village; the parachute force landing in the nearest clear area to reinforce them; then the Black Hawks would come right into the town and land their people there; while the Chinooks would use the one good clear area just to the north to land theirs. All the forces converging on the Village to hold it against the enemy reinforcements. One right after the other to confuse the enemy and not allow them to concentrate their effort at any one group. The Apache’s job was to attack the reinforcements to slow them up and weaken them. An Armored column was that force; which was meat on the table for the apaches. The Attack Little Birds would be the immediate air support.

It was a fairly complicated scenario and Liz was surprised at how well it went off; and the lack of any serious injuries was a major plus. Not even the Parachutists had more than a few sprained ankles.

In the critique afterwards Liz did note some things that needed work; coordination between the Chinooks and the Black Hawks had not been the best; and the Little Birds had not done as well getting the initial commandos to where they were supposed to. But other than that it had gone very well and the General was quite happy. 

The next day’s scenario was more straight forward; a massed assault all at once on another target. Search and Destroy. This time Liz was pleased that the Chinooks and Black Hawks did work better together. The Little Birds were only recon this time; the Attack Little Birds once again did the very close air support while the Apache’s took care of any major problems.

They lived in tents in the training area; which was fairly cold but not too bad. Though the maintenance people were not happy about having to work on their birds in the open. Liz reminded their battalion commander to remind THEM that they would not always be operating out of comfortable permanent establishments.

The third day was an R and R day to catch up on maintenance and give the people a little rest. Liz sat in her tent and worked on reports and paperwork. They did have little oil fired heaters that did a decent job of heating the tents even if they did stink a little.

The fourth day was two separate ones; the Little Birds would move a force of Commandos to one target, covered by Attack Little birds; while the rest of the Regiment moved in two groups the brigade and supporting light artillery and mortars. The Other group of Parachutists would drop and seize the target while the reinforcements would come in by chopper.

Liz was glad to see that the problems shown previously had been corrected here; and she had literally nothing to complain about. They were all done by 1500; and after the critique the General let her know that the training area barracks would be empty for them that night; they could have showers and sleep in a real bed. Liz told him that was the best news she had in days. The going away party that night was pretty noisy, and Liz doubted if anyone hit the sack before midnight; but that was OK as they were not leaving for Austria until noon.

Liz smiled at the number of hangovers she saw late the next morning; she made a lot of the Poles putting on a massive breakfast and she rather pointedly made comments about how they should all eat up. She got a number of very evil looks for that. 

The Flight to Austria only took an hour and a half; the air base was in a valley in the center of the country. They very much filled that air base. There were barely room for all the helicopters and the barracks certainly were not big enough. Then Liz ordered that the support people take the barracks while the Pilots took the tents that had been set up. They were certainly roomier than the Poles and their heaters did not stink.

The first exercise the next day had the Little Birds, Attack Little Birds and some Black Hawks move the Jagdkommando to their targets on a small plateau on a mountain about 50 miles away. Then in the afternoon came a regular army unit transported on an assault in a training area about 30 miles away. These went very well.

The next day was the more complicated one; Commandos seize the target and are reinforced; then a supposedly greater force of the enemy requires immediate withdrawal under fire. Then the whole Regiment brings in a bigger force to take back the original target; this went on all day. Once again there were some problems coordinating the Black Hawks and the Chinooks. Liz realized this was going to need some careful investigating. There was something fundamentally wrong and she had to find it.

They left the next day; the C-17’s picked up the Little Birds and the rest of the Regiment took off North. The trip back was thankfully boring.

Liz gave everyone the next day off to rest and see their families; as did she.

Next morning she was talking to Harkness first thing.  
“The Little Birds had some trouble; but they got better and their leadership is fairly young. Not really worried about them. The Apache’s did not have all that much to do but what they did they did well. It is the 3rd Battalion where I think we might have some problems.”  
“How so?”

“Coordination between the Chinooks and Black Hawks seemed poor; both in the first day with the Poles and the second day with the Austrians. They did get better in the second day with the Poles. But the fact that the problem cropped up again a couple days later with the Austrians means to me there is something wrong there.”

“So who do you think is dropping the ball?”

“Major Young seems solid as the Battalion Commander; and Captain Turner his XO seems good as well. I was listening carefully the next day with the Poles and I think I saw that Young took more control. The Second day with the Austrians he stepped back and again there were problems. So I am thinking the problem is somewhere in one of the companies. Not sure where though.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“Going to talk to Young one on one. See what he says. If he cannot clear it up then I have to think that the problem is not only in one of the companies but in him as well.”

“What will you do if that is the case?”

“Well it is too early to roll anyone; the problems are not that severe. But I might have to watch closely to make sure that progress is being made. I will give him some time but not a lot; if he cannot show progress in a month or so then he is gone.”

Meanwhile at that very same moment Major Young was talking to his XO.  
“I could tell she was not happy that second day with the Austrians.”

“We did not look too bad.”

“Don’t they call that damning with faint praise?”

“Yeah.”

“I just know she is going to grill me one on one. And frankly I would do the same in her shoes.”

“You cannot cover for him forever. He has got to shape up.”

“No one cannot say he does not give effort. He puts out as much if not more than anyone.”

“But in the end he has to get it done no matter how hard he tries.”

Liz had called in each Battalion commander for a one on one so that they could compare notes. The first one in was the 2nd Battalion commander, Major Ed Summers.

“So, Ed, tell me about the problem with the Little Boys.”

‘Wow, she does not waste time getting to the raw meat, does she’   
“Carter is young but he is learning. I have yet to see him make the same mistake twice.”

“Fair enough. As long as he does not make too many mistakes over all.”

“Colonel, he is getting there. I have confidence he will get it done. And to be honest, we do not really have anyone to replace him.”

“I know; I got all the young kids for my Little Birds. Most of the gray hairs except for Conkel stayed with the 160th.”

“They need time to grow and learn, Colonel.”

“True. As long as they show progress you will not have me on your back.”

“I will take that deal anytime, Colonel.”

Next she called in the Battalion Maintenance Commander.

“Got any gripes, Jack?”

“That was damn cold working on them out in the open; but you were right about having to do that now and then. Overall things went pretty well. Some of my people are still green but I see no real problems yet.”

“Well we had 100% operational Status for the whole time we were gone so I would need to be a real bitch to squawk about anything. So I won’t.”

The 1st Battalion commander came in and sat down and looked at Liz.  
“Considering we did not have to do much, I cannot take all that much credit for doing it well.”

“That pretty much says it all, doesn’t it? So take off. I got some other butts to chew on.”

“I know to leave when I am not wanted.”

So in came the 3rd Battalion commander. He sat down. She sat back and cocked her head and raised an eye brow. He sighed.  
“I know. We got a problem coordinating.”

“I noticed. What is wrong?”

He was silent for a moment. “Sam, spit it out. I am not going to let it go until you give me details and you know it.”

He took a deep breath. “Captain Gowers, my Chinook D Company commander. He is having problems coordinating other units with his.”

“Why?”

“He is not that young or inexperienced. But he just seems to have problems when you throw other units in with his. He can run his own fine; no one works harder. But he is slow to react and give orders when there is something not in the plan. Both the times there were problems he could not react to as fast as he needed to.”

Liz sighed. This was not good. She was glad it seemed the problem was not him or his XO but there was still a problem.  
“Sam, not being able to react to changes in plans for a unit like this is a very serious weakness. We cannot have this. And you cannot keep stepping in; or even your XO. He has got to improve and learn how to do it himself. If he cannot he is out of here. Simple as that.”

Sam slowly nodded. “I know, Colonel. Like I said no one puts in more time or tries harder but he just seems slow.”

Liz leaned forward. “As a pilot how is he?”

“Solid. Reacts well to emergencies and the like. But there are procedures for just about every possibility and he has them all memorized. Running a company in a fluid situation that is not possible; he has to think then react and that is his problem.” 

Liz sat back and contemplated this. She had doubts that he could learn to react faster; the more she thought about it the clearer it became. It is very hard to get into the SOAR; but if you prepared very well and memorized everything you can make it through the tough times they throw at you as you train. She had seen that over the years. As a matter of fact many people saw one of the primary problems with the military was the way things got done by rote; how little original thinking and reacting to unexpected or unplanned events was so much harder for those that got by memorizing the SOPs and procedures and manuals. But in Special Operations that was a common occurrence. Which is why the more independent thinkers and so called wild cards seemed to end up there.  
“Well there it is. We need to push him to see if he can react better; I want you to come up with some training that we can use on him. Check around; call SOCOM; do whatever you have to. Because this cannot continue for long. I do not care how great a guy he is or how hard he works; this is a bottom line world and nothing else really matters.”

“Understood Colonel.”

Not long later Liz was talking to Harkness.  
“Well the good news is that he knew what the problem was and who it was. The bad news is that there is probably nothing we can do but transfer him out.”

“One guy?”

“Yeah. One company commander. Works hard but seems to be unable to react quickly to unexpected situations.”

“Ouch. That is bad for this business.”

“Which I told the Battalion commander and he understood. He is going to make it a priority to see if he can do something. But I have a hunch it is something that cannot be learned; either you can do it or you can’t.”

“I agree. I will sniff around and see if anyone has come up with some kind of training to help that along; I doubt it but one never knows until you look.”

“Good idea. And while you are at it, check the files of the Chinook companies in the 160th; call Campbell and see if they have any there that might be ready to be company commanders. We do not have the luxury of time here; and they have more of the senior officers anyway.”

“Understood.”

The RAF officer had called back and the Cyprus operation appeared to be a go for late January. 3 weeks. Liz grinned at the thought of three weeks of Mediterranean sun. Then she asked him what interest he had found and how much could that area take.  
“Well as I guess you can imagine I could have half the entire British Army down there judging by interest. The capacity of those bases would be pretty much limited by water; they have had a drought there that has not let up yet. If that was not a factor we could easily have 2 or 3 Brigades there.”

Liz thought on that. “OK, let me see if I can come up with something. If we cannot have more water brought in, what are the limits then?”

“1 Brigade for 2 weeks.”

“OK. Give me a little time and I will see what I can do.”

Liz then called SOCOM and asked to talk to the G4.  
“Colonel Tanner, Liz Parker. I have been offered Cyprus as a training site but they have a severe water shortage. Is there anything we can do while we are there so that there is no drain on their water supply?” 

“We do have portable desalination units. The DOD has a fair number.”

“OK, what do I need to do?”

“I can give you a number to the DOD rep on this; he can clue you in on what is needed. How big an event are you looking at?”

“3 Brigades for 3 weeks.”

“That is a large exercise. What is your window?”

“Last three weeks in January.”

“With our movement out of Iraq, there should be several 10,000 gallon a day units available.”

“That sounds like a real possibility. Thank you Colonel.”

“Here is the number; good day Colonel. Glad to have been of assistance.”

Liz called the number and got some figures. She would need to talk to her support people to find out water needs. They had a number of units available so that was not a problem; neither was transport. So as far as Liz could see that would not be a problem.

Battalion support said that they would need 10 such units for the forces involved. Liz had done some checking and found that Cyprus had desalination plants as it was so this would be normal for them.   
Now that she knew it was possible Liz decided to see how much she could spend. So she called her budget person at SOCOM.

“Mr. Logan, this is Colonel Parker.”

“Good day to you Colonel. I am assuming you have a money question.”

“That is correct. I was never given a training budget figure and I think I need more guidance than I got when I took command.”

“That is surprising; and they should have given you at least a soft figure. I will check into it and call you back.”

“Thank you Mr. Logan.”

He then went to his supervisor who agreed that Colonel Parker should have been given some kind of a number. So his supervisor made a call to the #1 money man in SOCOM.

“That is absurd. Not to have given her a number is just plain laziness on someone’s part. This bothers me since she is in a very high profile position. I will need to check on this.”

He then went to see the Chief of Staff; who was surprised as well and they went to see SOCOM.

“She was never given any kind of a number? OK who screwed up?”

“I have had someone looking and the buck keeps getting passed around. I will have to chew on some people about this but we do need to give her a number.”

“What prompted this?”

SOCOM’s G4 was in the room. “Sir, she did call me just a while ago about desalination or water transport. RAF in Cyprus offered her 3 weeks in January to train but they need water; long term drought. She asked for enough for 3 Brigades for that time period.”

SOCOM blinked. “3 Brigades. What is she doing training 3 Brigades? Is there a war going on no one told me about?”

“I have no idea sir; I was going to ask you.”

“OK enough of this; get me a number for her budget and then get me her on the phone. If she is building her own private army it would be polite of her to let me know. Might have need of it sometime.”

Liz was digging through the never ending paperwork that late afternoon when her secretary buzzed her.  
“Colonel Parker, SOCOM is on the phone. The COMMANDER.”

Liz blinked. Something was up and it had to be big. She picked up her phone.  
“This is Colonel Parker.”

“Hold for SOCOM.”

“Colonel Parker. I understand you are planning to invade a medium sized nation. I would like to know where and when so I do not look out of touch when the president calls.”

“Sir, I am looking at 3 weeks in Cyprus for training; and quite a few people in the UK are interested. So I needed to know what my budget for training was so I could get an idea how much I could spend there. Since I did not have one I asked.”

“OK. I can see what happened now; and the fact you were never given any number is a big screw up at this level and someone will barbecue for it. Now I can authorize funds for this one time operation. What UK units were you looking at?”

“Their rapid deployment force, the Commandos; SAS and SBS, the rest of the Royal Marines and two brigades, 19th and 52nd. And the Parachute Regiment.”

SOCOM blinked; he had his speaker phone on and the rest of his staff just about had their mouths open.

“Colonel, the size of an exercise like that usually takes months of planning and many consultations. How long have you been planning this?”

“Just started sir. I had most of the British Army send requests in when I got here; we thinned them down some and the RAF suggested Cyprus. I talked to the Ramstein unit and they figure they can transport everyone. They are good for that time frame as is 352nd SOG. The water question looks solvable; so what it really comes down to is money. Which is why before I made any firm promises I wanted to see what was available. It bothered me that I had not been given a figure but I have been busy somewhat so I waited until now to find out.”

There were some speaking looks around the table. This clearly had to be discussed.

“Colonel, get me hard numbers on total cost of transportation and otherwise; at this time I am giving this a tentative go. And you will have a hard number for your training budget when you get back to me; this will not be part of it.”

“That is good to hear sir. I should have those numbers to you by tomorrow.”

“Very good Colonel. I will be waiting for your call. Good day.”

“Good Day general.”

He hung up and looked around the room. “OK, the good news is that she is not building a private army. The bad news is that it certainly looks like she could if she wanted to. I would like an explanation why it appears she has most of the UK Military in her pocket.”

His Deputy had a poker face; SOCOM knew that one well. He glared at him. “Give it up now.”

“Well, sir, those two tours in Afghanistan; her last two. She really saved the bacon of half a dozen units of the British Army, Royal Marines, Commandos and made great friends with the SAS. The RAF is very fond of her as well. She delivers what she promises. That blurb about no one ever dying on a mission she was in charge of or escorting really means a lot to the Brits. They lost a fair number of people; more than we have. Losing none while she was there really hit home for them. And there is a practical matter as well. The defense budget of the UK has been very tight for the last two years and will be for a while; budgets for training are way down. And then she shows up with a Special Ops unit that everyone and their Aunt Sue knows has more money than anyone else does right now. Right in their backyard. So I have no doubt that figures into things.” 

Everyone was quiet while they thought about that. SOCOM mused.  
“This kind of training exercise normally needs about a year to put together; if she can do it in a few months with just her staff and the brits helping out then most of you ought to be fired.”

There were some uncomfortable looks around the table. Then he grinned. “She can get away with it. Probably no one else could. Just because of the unique situation. Still if she pulls this off successfully we might have to take her away from her Apache a little sooner than we thought. We need her ability here. More than we need a top SOAR regimental commander. Put her in Staff College for a year then give her a star.”

Liz contacted the RAF officer and told him that it was probably a go for the larger exercise but she would get the word for sure in a day or so; she also asked him if the Cypriots had any idea of how big a force would be coming.

“They were informed of the possibility it could be this big. Once you know for sure then I will tell them. So the early word is good?”

“Just got finished talking to SOCOM and he seems amenable to funding the large exercise; so I need hard figures of how many troops will be coming. I am pretty sure I can swing the transportation of helicopters so any you want to bring should be a go. The desalination units will have a capacity of 100,000 gallons a day. So that should take care of the water concerns; we can probably get them there early and leave them for a while so that will help with the overall water situation.”

“They would appreciate that. I should have hard numbers for you tomorrow.”

“Sounds good. Be talking to you.”

The RAF Group Captain sat and contemplated this. The word had been that Colonel Parker was very well connected; this seemed to support that. He buzzed his aide.  
“Start contacting the units on the list; get numbers of troops as well as any support equipment they want to bring. Helicopters and things like Artillery and mortars. Tell them I need hard numbers by noon tomorrow.”

Liz then called a battalion officers meeting; that meant all commanders and XO’s and Colonel Harkness. They all arrived in half an hour.  
“OK, people, it looks like the Cyprus operation is a go. Start planning for it. Colonel Harkness, call Ramstein and see just how many transports they can bring to this party.”

All over the UK units were called and commanders were informed. Liz went back to her paperwork.

Early the next morning Liz was in her office looking at the rough plans they had made about the Cyprus exercise. She was thinking that the units could switch off being OPFOR and Allied Forces. She looked at the coast of Turkey which was only 50 miles away. She got to thinking about that. Now there was still tension between Greece and Turkey about Cyprus. So she got on the phone with the RAF Group Captain.

“Will there be any trouble with the Turks us swarming on Cyprus?”

“Should not be; but I have good contacts there and I will call to make sure.”

“Thank you.”

The more she looked at Cyprus, the more it looked like they should concentrate on the more mountainous end. She would have to see how much they would be willing to let them use.

The Group Captain had spent a fair amount of time stationed in the Mediterranean, and had made a point of cultivating good contacts with most of the NATO members in the region; Turkey being one of them. So he called his best contact in Turkeys Defense ministry; fairly high up in the leadership.

“We are looking to have a rather large training exercise the last three weeks in January. Would that cause any problems? Could you check and get back to me soon?”

The Turk was from an old military family; well connected. So he was able to talk to the Deputy Defense minister rather quickly.

“The British and Americans want to do a large exercise on Cyprus?”

“The new Special Operations aviation regiment; and several brigades of the British Army. SAS, Para’s, Commandos and regular forces.”

“Probably want to go to someplace warm.”

“Very much so.”

“No problem with this much warning. I am surprised we did not hear about this earlier.”

“My contact says it was only informally discussed until the budget was approved.”

“Ah yes. Their Special Operations still have a large budget.”

“About the only ones that still do outside the Chinese. Or the oil Arabs.”

The Deputy Minister was clearly thinking. The officer knew to be patient.

“With the British defense budget as it is, clearly the Americans are footing the bill.”

“They are even bringing in portable desalination plants to make sure there is plenty of water; and will be leaving them there for a while to help with the water situation.”

“Very intelligent of them. That kind of goodwill is remembered.”

He thought some more. “Our Army has been complaining about the lack of training funds.”

“As is everyone.”

“Cyprus is a small island for that many troops. Perhaps we can be of assistance to a fellow NATO member.”

The officer did not need to be told any more.

The Group Captain put down the phone slowly. He was beginning to get the same feeling a conductor on a runaway train must feel. His Aide came in.  
“Here are the figures for the troop’s sir. Just under 10,000. 20 pieces of light artillery and twenty helicopters – all transport types.”

“Very good. The Turks just intimated they would like to play as well.”

“Good god.”

“Quite.”

Liz looked at the phone as if it had bitten her then put it back to her ear.  
“So 10,000 men, 20 pieces of light artillery and 20 transport helicopters. About what I thought. Did the Turks have any numbers?”

“My best guess would be about 5000; at most. I do believe the commando units would be the ones coming. Not all of them of course. They would have 20 Euro copters for transport.”

“We would have to train in Turkey since more Turkish troops on Cyprus would raise all kinds of hell.”

“Without a doubt.”

“OK, talk to them about where they would like to train. This would mean we would not have to use much of Cyprus to actually land on. The mountains, mostly.”

“That was understood. I am sure the Cypriots would be happier that way.”

“Very well then I will float this upstairs.”

Liz was beginning to wonder what she had gotten herself into; this was like a snowball rolling downhill going faster and faster and getting bigger and bigger.

Liz then made the call to SOCOM. She was put right through to him.

“Colonel Parker, you have the numbers?”

“Yes sir and also we have someone else wanting to come to the party.”

“Oh?”

“The Turks. Their commandos or most of them. They want to train in the province closest to Cyprus. Probably 3-5000.”

“I guess one should not be surprised. Those numbers for the Brits?”

Liz gave them to him. “Ramstein has said they can handle it; it will take everything they have but they can do it.”

“Very well – it is formally approved. But no one else may join now.”

“Yes sir I will tell anyone the invitations have gone out and that is that.”

“Good Day colonel.”

“Good day General.”

He looked at his staff. “The Turks want in. Most of their commandos; they will train around Alanya. This will be the largest joint NATO exercise next year.”

“And all arranged by a new Colonel sitting in Scotland.”

“Remarkable.”

“And actually quite cheap when it is all said and done.”

“Very cheap; just fuel and ammunition. Not much ammunition. But a lot of fuel. However it is good that the Turks are involved. One hopes Colonel Parker can work her magic with them. Our relations need some improving there.”

Liz meanwhile was beginning to wade into the whole exercise which had mutated beyond her wildest nightmares. Grimly deciding to just put her head down and move ahead she began to query the various regiments with the new information. She was figuring that they would do a week on Cyprus and then go back and forth to Turkey for the operations there.

The Defense Secretary got wind that a major exercise was planned in Cyprus in only three months; since that was the first he had heard of it he sent an Air Vice Marshal to have a talk with the Group Captain. 

“Group Captain Bryce, the Secretary would like to know about this exercise and how long it had been planned.”

“Sir it was only informally discussed up until this last week; and only in the last month at all.”

“The new unit that Colonel Parker commands is part of it.”

“Actually sir that is where it started. I made a remark at their standup about Cyprus and it has grown a bit.”

“Just slightly. Who is involved?”

“Commandos, SAS, SBS, Para’s and the 19th and 52nd Brigades. Oh, and the Royal Marines.”

The Air Vice Marshal was still for a moment; then nodded. “Is that all?”

“No sir. The Turks are in and we will be doing a fair amount of training with their commandos around Alanya.”

“Colonel Parker has planned all this?”

“The Turks were a total surprise to both of us but as she remarked the extra room on the mainland will make it better training. We envision a series of assaults and movements and the like. First with the 19th and 52nd Brigades in the mountains of Cyprus; those units have had a rather heavy turnover and the great majority of them have no familiarity with mountain operations. One force will play aggressors and the other defenders then switch off. About a week doing that. Then we will join the Turks on the mainland for more of that. Colonel Parker and I have thought some operations using the special units on both sides, once again switching off playing aggressor and defender. Two weeks of that.”

Slowly the Air Vice Marshal nodded. “Colonel Parker was able to get funding for all of this?”

“Yes sir; she informed me that SOCOM personally authorized it out of his training budget; not hers.”

The Secretary looked at the Air Vice Marshal. “Colonel Parker was able to get this done this quickly; and apparently very easily?”

“Yes sir. Remarkable.”

Liz had talked to several of the regimental commanders with her ideas and they had been amenable. They liked not having elaborate plans with everything practiced and rehearsed. They were all combat veterans and did not think much of such regimented training exercises. At least not much as regards preparing troops for real combat. She made it clear they were the experts at ground warfare and that they needed to let her know if she was off course.

One idea that had come up was to have a meeting of all the unit commanders and staffs and thrash it all out. That was agreed to and it was scheduled for 1 November at the MOD. Liz had been given a contact number for the Turks and she used it for the first time.

“This is Colonel Parker, 161st SOAR. We will be staging the exercise No Name the last three weeks of January around Cyprus and Alanya. The Turkish units involved are invited to send Reps to the MOD on 1 November to finalize plans for the training.” 

“I will see to it the message is delivered properly, Colonel Parker.”

“Thank You. My number is this. Good Day.”

“She is calling it No Name?”

“Guess it is as good as any and does sort of describe it.”

Liz had talked to the Ramstein unit and they were amazed at how the operation had grown; when told SOCOM would be footing the bill they were cheerful. They had checked with the RAF base at Cyprus and there was just enough room for their C-130’s for use in the operations. They would use C-17’s to move everyone there. And back. The 352nd SOG would have their tanker C-130’s there as well.

At a command meeting Liz had given the rest of the senior officers the word on the changes.  
“SOCOM told me no more; so there will not be. Meantime I want to train with a couple of the single regiments in November; the first two weeks. This will be strictly 3rd Battalion practicing combat mission assaults; the Attack Little Birds will be doing the escort part. So you two coordinate with the regiments chosen.”

Liz had put this together to not only give the two units training; but to see if that one captain could do better. She was quietly determined if he showed no improvement he was out.

The weather had gotten colder and wetter; Liz had a bad feeling she would only be warm when they were in Cyprus.

Liz had been grateful that no taskings had happened so far; the 160th had had a battalion in Bagram that was slowly leaving; the Afghans had a fair number of helicopters now; and the Company had some as well. It was questionable if they would even replace that remnant, but if they did it would be the 161st supplying the unit. SF operations there were dwindling; so they might not need anyone from the 161st. Otherwise things were very quiet; anything going on was in cooperation with the Company using local transport. There was very little going on in Europe or Africa that involved Special Operations. Now things had warmed up again a little in the Philippines and Indonesia, but even there not much was going on. Liz hoped it continued but was realistic enough to know it wouldn’t.

The Scots and the Welsh regiments were going to be participants in the exercises; Liz would not be there. She had quietly told 3rd Battalion that their questionable captain had to show improvement.

As always when she was not where her people were, Liz got antsy. So she wandered around the base and hangers poking her head in here and there. That did help her get more familiar with both the base and the people.

The training had taken place at Salisbury. One day for each of the Regiments; assaults and movement. As Liz had ordered, Major Young threw in a couple of unexpected wrinkles in the later parts of each session.

At the end of the second day, just before the Helicopters would take off for their return to Scotland, Sam and his XO stood alone talking.  
“I checked around and everyone pretty much told me the same thing; this is something that cannot be learned; either you can do it or you can’t.”

“And he can’t.”

“No.”

Liz had scheduled the Battalion review of the training sessions the very next morning after they got back. Once again deliberately she did not attend; this was the battalion’s responsibility.  
“Captain Gowers, the Chinooks were late on the pickup after exercise 3 was changed.”

“Yes sir.”

“Why was that?”

“Sir, it took time for me to coordinate with the Little Birds for proper escort.”  
After the review Sam and his XO looked at each other; his XO slowly shook his head. Sam nodded sadly.

Sam walked towards the Commanders office like a man walking up the gallows toward his own necktie party. He kept thinking there was something he could have done but he could not think of anything. Everyone he had talked to said the same thing. But he still felt it was his failure.

Liz took one look at Joe and sighed.  
“Leave that for last. How were the Little Birds?”

“They were a little rough but got better. They are very green but are improving steadily.”

“The rest of 3rd Battalion?”

“Solid. No real problems.”

Liz nodded. “Now for the elephant in the room.”

Sam took a deep breath. “I did as you ordered for both sessions. And in each he was slow to react and clearly uncertain. He made the right decisions in the end but it took too long for him to think it out and make the call.”

“So if this had been a combat situation?”

“We would have had casualties if the enemy had been alert.”

Liz sat for a while. “I looked over his record; none of this was in it before; and he had been a company commander for the 160th for 6 months before he came to us.”

“Colonel, they had done nothing in those 6 months. It has been pretty quiet the last year or so.”

“Let us hope it continues. So he was never tested.”

“No sir.”

“You do not think he can get better.”

“No sir.”

“Then there is nothing else to say. I will explore the replacement possibility. There is no one in that company or in the other one that you think can be pushed up?”

“No sir. Captain Jeffries of the other Chinook company is quite good but his XO is very young. The XO of Captain Gowers company is also very young.”

“Just wanted to be sure. Well until we have a replacement in mind let’s not make him more miserable than he will be. Clearly he will have to leave; but while where we can get a replacement is obvious; whether we can is another matter.”

Liz thought for a bit then called Harkness.  
“Jim, in your rooting around did you find a possible replacement for a Chinook company commander?”

“Sir, there is a senior 1st Lt in the 160th who is not even a platoon commander but seems to be quite good. Has almost 3 years in the SOAR. He really seems to be the only real possibility inside; anyone outside would need the training.”

“OK. I guess I will need to have a conversation with the 160th.”

“Yes sir.”

Liz sighed and looked at the clock. Would not be able to call; but she could send an email. Gowers would be leaving SOAR to regular Aviation so it was not like it would be a trade. Oh, well, suck it up Liz.

When he got in that morning the new 160th commander noticed that he had an email from the 161st. He opened it and read it. This surprised him a little; she was chopping heads pretty fast. They had only been operational for not even 2 months. He thought for a while then called in his XO.  
“Ed, look at this.” And showed him the email.

He whistled. “Pretty fast with the blade.”

“Yeah. Get his folder and see if this was obvious or what.”

Not long after they were looking at his folder; all had been copied to make sure there was a spare in case of fire or whatever. They spent a few minutes looking it over and then the Commander sat and thought some more.

“Nothing jumps out. He was a company commander for 6 months here before he went there and as I recall she worked all of them hard.”

“Yeah but as I recall both companies of Chinooks were usually together and the other captain was senior. So he never really had to do anything.”

“Well he could not hide anymore is what I see. Looking closely at his record with this in mind you could kind of see it. But it certainly was not obvious.”

“She likes to really throw new wrinkles in to make the company commanders think. I guess he just could not move fast enough.”

“In our business that is bad. So I can see why she is offing him. You hear about that huge exercise in Cyprus and Turkey?”

“Yeah. Word I get is that it started out small and just expanded like a sonuvabitch.”

“That is what I heard; now it is going to be the biggest NATO exercise anywhere next year. So she figures this guy cannot cut the mustard. Well the LT she mentions is pretty senior.”

“Yeah. He does seem to deserve the position. And it would not weaken that company to lose him much.”

“That is what I am thinking. So talk to the Battalion commander first; then if he does not scream too loud let the kid know.”

He then emailed back giving his ok. She would have to make the request for transfer; and then it would be up to SOCOM to figure out what to do with him. The guy would probably be fine with a regular Aviation Brigade. 

Liz was glad on one hand to read the email; but on the other hand she would have to tell Captain Gowers he was out. She had a thought and called the 101st Aviation Brigade.

“So there it is, Colonel. I am sure Captain Gowers would do fine in a more regular and structured environment. He just takes too much time to make up his mind. He makes the right decisions, just takes too long.”

“Send me his file.”

“The 160th has a copy. I will let them know to get it ready for you.”

“One of my Chinook companies is very green. I have a LT acting as commander but he is not ready. This guy is experienced. SO it might work out for both of us.”

“Thank You, Colonel. Captain Gowers never puts less than all he has into anything, and that is one reason I hate to lose him. But sometimes for all one puts into something, in the end it is not enough. For the SOAR when too much weird shit happens, he cannot cope. Anywhere else he should be fine.”

The XO looked at him. “She got the 101st to take him?”

“Yeah. I did a little checking and one of their Chinook companies is very green. So maybe it will work out for everyone.”

Liz then decided to talk to the 3rd Battalion commander and headed down. 

She had gotten used to people reacting when she just walked in the door but it still was not really comfortable for her. She found 3rd Battalion offices and their commander. She walked into his office. He stood up.  
“Colonel. I am guessing you have news.”

Liz closed the door behind her. “Pretty good news. The 160th has a solid candidate; and best of all I talked to the 101st Aviation brigade and they need an experienced Chinook company commander. So he will still have a command.”

Sam relaxed. “That is so much better. I really hated having to tell him he was all but out on the street.”

“You will not be telling him; that is my job.”

“I am his battalion commander.”

“I am the one who has pushed this. The dirty end of the stick is in my hand. I am the one that deals the dirt. I will be the one that tells him he is not good enough for the 161st SOAR. That is final.”

Liz took a deep breath. “Have him sent up in an hour.”

She headed back to her office. Sam sat for a while and then his XO popped his head in.  
“So when?”

“She wants to see him in an hour.”

“She is going to do it?”

“Yeah. Hardcore on that.”

“Well she is the boss. And she is taking this particular shit detail.”

“The good news is that she got him a company command in the 101st Aviation Brigade. I guess she pulled some old strings or something.”

“That is not so bad then.”

“No, I guess not.”

Captain Tom Gowers knew that somehow he was in trouble. You did not get sent to HER office if you were OK. He could not figure out what he had done.

Liz sat in her office and took some deep breaths. She had not really done this before; at least not face to face. True, she had had that colonel arrested; but she had not fired him.

Captain Gowers walked in. Liz sucked it up.

“Captain, there is no easy way to say this so I will just say it. You are being transferred to the 101st Aviation Brigade to assume command of B Company of their 3rd Battalion. Everyone tells me, and I saw nothing to suggest otherwise, that you work as hard as anyone in this unit. This is not a reflection on your effort or anything else except you cannot make decisions fast enough for the 161st SOAR. I do not want to do this but feel I must. I am very sorry. The Transfer is immediate; you will be reporting to the 101st in one week. If you need more time to pack up you will have it.”

He slowly sank down into the chair. Liz took a deep breath. This was the hardest thing she had ever had to do. She got up and walked to his side and placed a hand on his shoulder.  
“Tom, some people just are not suited for this. You just do not move fast enough. It is like in football when a WR outruns the secondary. It is not their fault they are not fast enough. It just is what it is.”

Tom slowly nodded. “I guess I knew I was in trouble. But I could not imagine it was this bad. But it is true that I have to think about things before I do them. I cannot react fast enough.”

“You will still have command of a company of Chinooks. Just in the 101st Aviation brigade.”

He slowly nodded then stood up and looked at her. “I appreciate that you did this yourself colonel. I did the best I could but it was not good enough.”

“Tom, no one doubts your commitment or your effort. If effort and working hard was enough you would be fine. But it is not here.”

After he left Liz just sat in her office, trying not to cry. The look on his face when she told him would be with her for a long time.

Liz felt very depressed for the rest of the day. She stayed in her office and mechanically worked through the never ending paperwork.

She was certain that she made the right decision; but doubts still nagged at her. Intellectually she knew that if someone could not make decisions fast enough then they were a hazard. Especially in the world of combat aviation. Yet the look on his face; and she knew he had worked as hard as humanly possible to be good enough. But as she had told him, all the want to in the world is sometimes just not enough. She knew this was one of the prices of command. And she had wanted this command. But was she willing to pay the price? Her head was telling her that she was over reacting to her heart, but that was small comfort.

She went home that evening to her family; seeing James bouncing around and finding Aliya talking on the phone to one of the new friends she had met here helped immensely. Max had taken a job at the Commissary in order to have something to do. He had been a little surprised that working in their order department was actually kind of interesting. He did not know how long that would last, but for the moment it was OK. He came in to find Liz sitting on the sofa smiling at James who was enthusiastically playing with some toy cars.

Aliya was talking animatedly to one of her new friends; she seemed to be doing very well adjusting. That had been one of his and Liz’s big worries. She had had almost 5 years as friends with the kids from the Posse. They had been a huge part of the reason she had done so well. He looked at Liz and realized that the smile was a little plastic; which was very rare for Liz outside of a formal occasion. This was not good. He went over and sat down and pulled her close. She snuggled in and laid her head on his shoulder. He waited patiently for her to say something; she might wait until they were alone later and that was fine with him; as long as she got it out eventually.  
Liz just lay there until it was time to fix dinner then she quietly helped Max with it. They ate and she forced herself to talk to Aliya and James normally. She knew Max had already figured out something was wrong so she just waited; eventually James went to his room to do something and Aliya went out to talk with her new friends at the community center. She had started doing that most evenings and Liz and Max were happy to see it. School had started the month before so that most days they did not see much of her. So Max tugged her down next to him on the sofa and just held her. She sighed in contentment.  
“I had to relieve a company commander today.”

Max was silent; the best way was to let her get it out her way.

“He worked as hard as anyone but he could not adjust to changes quick enough.”

Max just held her.

“The look on his face when I told him will be with me a long time. I was able to get him a company command in the 101st but it still is a comedown any way you look at it.”

Max sighed. “Comes with the territory babe.”

“I know. This is the first time I had to tell someone to his face that he was fired.”

Being with her family helped a lot but it would still be with Liz for a long time.

The next day Liz forced herself to get back to work and start looking at the details on the Cyprus operation.

Meanwhile the 160th Commander had called in 1st LT Will Ranger. He was trying to figure out why he was seeing the commander; as far as he could remember he had not done anything wrong. 

“Sit down LT.”

He sat.

“Good news for you. You are getting a company command with the 161st. D Company of their third battalion. Transfer is immediate.”

He was stunned. A company command? He looked at the commander.  
“I have never even commanded a platoon, sir.”

“Not formally on paper but we both know you have done well there. I have no doubts about you and neither does Colonel Parker or she would not have asked for you.”

“She asked for me?”

“Yes she asked for you. But before you get too much of a swelled head you are the only one here that is considered ready; and anyone else would have to go through SOAR training. So you got lucky.”

He nodded, a little dazed. “I am replacing someone?”

“Yes. Your predecessor did not get it done; or at least not to the satisfaction of Doberman.”

He left still trying to get his mind around this; he had wanted to get promoted and get a command but this was out of the blue. He figured he might have gotten a platoon in the next year; but a company was at least two years off. But not anymore. Still he knew he would be watched; and Colonel Parker would not be slow to chop him if he did not get it done.

Meanwhile Captain Gowers who was unmarried had not wasted any time. He had packed and was gone in two days. The word spread rapidly that Doberman had eaten her first victim. That tightened everyone up.

Liz was aware of it and wondered if she should say anything at the weekly meeting of the Battalion Commanders. She decided not to. What she had decided to do was each month meet with all the officers of each battalion; and then the enlisted separately. It was a closed door meeting and she made it clear that no names or any identifying information would be used from those meetings; they were a bitch and gripe session. One week after the transfer, just before Lt Ranger arrived, she had a meeting with the enlisted in 3rd Battalion.

She walked into the teaching area of the HQ building; it was an auditorium type of building that could seat about 400. So there was plenty of room.  
They of course stood up as she walked in. She sat on a chair on the podium area and they were in the seats. She looked around and decided that she needed to clear the air.   
“First off. Captain Gowers was transferred due to performance and no other reason. Just wanted that out of the way. Lt Ranger will be arriving tomorrow to take command of D Company. I will push for his promotion to captain as soon as possible. He is an experienced man from the 160th and he should do well. Now that is out of the way. Let’s hear what you got to say.”

Interestingly no one had said anymore about Captain Gowers which Liz was grateful for. Just the standard gripes nothing new.

Lt Ranger arrived on the commercial flight the next day and immediately was taken to Liz’s office. She shook his hand and had him take a seat.  
“I guess you know why you are here. Your predecessor was unable to get it done. It is up to you to do better. Now for the moment there are no scheduled training missions; but you will want to check your chopper and meet your people. Take them out training; that is not a problem. You just have to give warning to our S & R boat.”

“Colonel I am grateful for the opportunity. You will have my best.”

“I expect nothing less.”

“Colonel, the rescue boat. I had not heard about it.”

“It is a modified cloverley boat with a platform mounted so that most helicopters can land on it. Your Chinooks are too big so all they can do is be there to fish you out if you go in. But that is the best we can do.” 

“Yes Sir.”

“I will push for your promotion as much as I can. It will probably take a couple of months.”

“Thank You sir.”

“You will earn it, make no mistake.”

Liz felt better after he left; she had a feeling he would do fine. She hoped so. She turned back to her never ending paperwork. 

The 1 November meeting for the Training Exercise came up and Liz headed out to London and the MOD. She decided to take the train and found it pretty nice. She got in the previous evening and stayed in a motel in London. She relaxed that night and took a long bath.

She was at the MOD at 0800; she wanted to talk to the Group Captain before the 0900 meeting began. They found an empty small conference room and compared notes.

They found they were much in agreement about the broad parameters. Liz had talked to most of the units involved several times; and all of them at least once. So she felt she had a good handle on it. They discussed the transport matters; the Ramstein 21st Mobility group would be there as well. 352nd SOG sent someone as well. Finally they headed into the main conference room at 0845. Liz took a deep breath; the Group Captain had made it clear this was her show. She walked in and took her seat at the head of the long table. About half the seats were already filled and the front door of the room had people still coming in; she pulled out the briefing kit she had put together; she had made 40 copies and she had a hunch she might be short. She started passing them down both sides of the table.

The briefing paper had the title NO NAME. It said briefly that the object of the training operation was to enhance the combat abilities of the units involved through rapid movement and maneuver. Operations would take place both on Cyprus and around Alayna in Turkey. Operation would begin 9 January and end 30 January. Units would arrive 8 January and leave 31 January. The Turkish units would not come to Cyprus. The other units would stay there for the first week then move to Alayna after that; the 161st would remain as would any other helicopters. Desalination plants would be brought in and would supply water on Cyprus. All transport for units in the UK would be done by 21st Air Mobility group of Ramstein. A POL point would be established at the RAF base on Cyprus. 

Once everyone was seated Liz stood up.  
“My name is Colonel Elizabeth Parker of the 161st SOAR. My unit will do most of the transportation during the operation. The ground units will need to discuss in detail what they want to do. I want to stress that we need to keep the written orders as brief as possible; the goal of this operation is to make the Battalion commanders and lower think. React. And React again. There will be sudden changes –with no notice. Just as it happens in combat. We are not going to choreograph this like a play; we are going to make our people think. Basically anything goes just like it does in war. No rules. No trying to make it even and make it fair. It is my suggestion that units trade off playing attacker and defender; that way they see both sides of it. We have a lot of units here; so we can mix and match and juggle things. One suggestion was to make up two sides and pick a commander for each side. Balance out the forces so that combat strength is about even. Now as regards my Attack Helicopters there also needs to be a decision made. We can split up but I think having them fight each other would be fun for us but in the end not help the ground units much. We can work to support one side or another during each particular battle – or stay out of it all together. The transport units will be used to move units around or stage assaults; once again that is up to the ground units. So we have a lot to discuss. First let’s go around the room and have everyone introduce themselves.”

Once everyone had introduced themselves- every regiment had sent not only their commander but their XO as well- Liz stood up again.  
“OK now we have names to put with the faces. First thing; do we pick and match two sides and go from there or be more general. Let us have discussion then a vote.”

After about half an hour of discussion it was decided two sides was the way to go. Liz stood again.  
“OK. Now we need to pick sides for the first week before we go to Turkey. Clearly we need one overall commander on each side.”

That got animated; finally the Commandos Brigadier would take one side and the 52nd Brigades Brigadier the other for the first week; then the rest of the time it would be the Turkish Major General and the 19th Brigades Brigadier. The Turkish units would be bolstered by the 52nd Brigade, while the British units would have the Commandos, etc. That made things pretty even overall. Liz moved to the large white board and began to write things down. It was a board that went down one whole wall so that was good since it was needed. They broke at noon and would meet back at 1400 to finish it off; a lot had been settled but more needed to be done. Liz asked the Turkish helicopter people and the Brit helicopter people to come with her and the Group Captain, 21st and 352nd SOG for lunch and they could talk things over. The ground units went together to also thrash some details out. There was a small dining hall on the top floor for senior officers and the Group Captain took them there.

Liz enjoyed talking to other rotorheads and they also made plans on how to do things and where and when. The 352nd was quite willing to do refueling all during the operation; and the 21st Mobility group had little to complain about since the agreement had made sure that all units would be picked up at various airfields and that was carefully scheduled. The Supply situation would be handled by one unit of the 21st; they were working with a contractor to use the desalination plants. So they would be in place several days before the troops started to arrive. Liz then turned to the Turkish helicopter commander and asked about where the troops would be staying; it was understood they would be in tents but in that weather it would not be a problem. But water might be; so it was agreed to move 4 of the plants to Alayna where the camp would be. The Turkish army would handle the other details of the camp such as refuse removal, latrines and such. Each unit would bring their own tents and the like. Plus field kitchens. Liz had quietly arranged for a substantial amount of food to be brought in. 

Once they all got together at the conference room the ground commanders revealed that they had rough drafted things out; and would send a report to all units. Liz then took over and went over everything already talked about to make sure everyone was clear on it. There were no changes; and everyone seemed to be on the same page of music. A large amount of blank ammunition would be issued and no one expected much to be turned in. The Artillery that would be coming would be used by both sides; the Scots Royal Artillery Battalion would shoot for everyone. Now that the commanders of both sides had been chosen, they would further communicate with each other to figure out what would be done. The Group Captain had supplied the locations that would be used on Cyprus, and the Turkish General had furnished the locations to be used in Turkey. There was no disagreement that nothing other than general objectives would be agreed on; how it was to be done was up to the commanders. Liz then made the point that once the general plan for each engagement was decided, only those on that side would be told. The other side would have to react to it. The Attack Helicopters would be mainly for show; and would be used to threaten the defenders or attackers depending on the scenario. The transport helicopters would be used for deployment or retreat; or for assault. Medical support would come from the RAF who would have dedicated MEDEVAC helicopters; a field hospital would be set up at the RAF base. At 1630 it was seen that just about everything possible had been discussed and the meeting was adjourned. Minutes would be typed up by the RAF Group Captains assistant and distributed to all parties. Liz left and headed back to Scotland on the first train she could get to; making it back by 2000. Thankful it was done and quite optimistic about the operation as a whole.

The next day Liz then took the entire Regiment out for a maneuver; took them out to sea and acting as coordinator made them fly this way and that for over an hour. Then had the crews do as fast a refueling as possible and timed the various crews; the winners got the rest of the day off; the worst crews had to service the best crews chopper.

Then she brought in the officers of each Battalion and had them do war games; given different scenarios what they would do; then pulling in company commanders and giving them command of the Battalion. Then hitting them with what ifs. Then among the crews she started them doing cross training; the idea was that when they were done a Little Bird Crew could refuel and rearm an Apache; a Black Hawk crew could refuel a Chinook; and so on.

With the exception of taking a week off for Thanksgiving, she worked the crews and officers hard for the whole month of November up until the 21st of December when she told them all they were off until 2 January. Except for a couple of platoons here and there on alert; and then switching off the next week; the Regiment was to enjoy the Holidays. Liz kept working on her never ending paperwork, but took time off for Christmas; Ted and Nancy came to visit.

Quite a number of the Regiment went to the States for Holidays; and so it was fairly deserted on base. Liz was able to spend a fair amount of time at home with her family; and to rest up and relax. She made it a point to do that as much as she could since as soon as everyone got back they would be getting ready for the exercise.

The ground scenarios had been pretty filled out and the requests for transport and movement and maneuver had been evenly distributed so that everyone would have plenty to do. There had also been some nighttime scenarios agreed on and that would be interesting. Liz could read between the lines; each side was determined to trick and bedevil the other as much as possible; just like in real combat. She had a feeling it would be an interesting 3 weeks.

More than a few people were very interested on how this exercise turned out. Unheard of for something this big to be done so quickly with so few meetings; so loosely put together. Its title, No Name, was considered a jab at the overly organized large training operations. And since it had been organized by the US Army’s rising star, it got more attention.

On 7 January the transports arrived and one after another was filled with helicopters and parts and crews; it started at 0700 and kept right on. Liz was on the first plane and headed out. Jim Harkness would watch over the operation.

It took just under 5 hours to get there; it had been 41 degrees and a light drizzle when they left; it was 72 degrees and Sunny when they landed. The weather was absolutely beautiful. Liz got off her plane and looked around and just smiled. They were the first ones there; met by the RAF Base commander and a Cypriot official. Liz made nice with them as the plane was unloaded. They were coming five planes at a time; each C-17 was able to put in 3 Super Apache’s due to the shortened fuselage and an idea from a loadmaster to use off center tie downs allowing them to shoe horn in an extra bird. They had 15 C-17’s and 8 C-5B’s; the C-5’s would make two trips to take all the Chinooks and Little Birds. The first flight of C-17’s would take all the Apache’s plus some of the Black Hawks. One more flight would be needed and a third flight by the C-5B’s that could take three Black Hawks squeezed in. This took until 1100 the next day to get them all there. In the meantime, the remaining Transport Aircraft were picking up the British units; what took the time there was loading the Brit Helicopters; the rest of the units were pretty much walk ins. By 1700 on 8 January everyone was there from all the units.

The initial camp was basically from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea to almost the flight line; row upon row of tents. Almost 14,000 personnel in all. 1500 from the Commandos; 1800 Royal Marines; 1600 Para’s; 300 SAS and SBS; 4000 from 19 Brigade and 3800 from 52 Brigade. The numbers were higher than originally thought due to the support personnel involved. Virtually the entire regular duty Royal Marine Corps was there; most of the Para’s and almost half of the Commandos. For 19 and 52 brigades it was very important training as they had not had any as complete brigades for several years; with the inevitable turnover almost half of their personnel had never trained with one another.

A meeting was held in the large command tent that the Royal Marines had brought with them. Last minute changes were passed around and plans for the first day finalized. The first scenario would have the Commandos and Royal Marines plus 52nd Brigade against the Paras, SBS, SAS and 19 Brigade. First group would be positioned and the second group would attack. In each day the Attack Helicopters would support the forces attempting to take back ground seized by the aggressors. That would be the first two days; then would come a series of assaults by all forces one group at a time dropped into the area and marching to attack another. That would last two days. Then the SBS and SAS would have a night of assaults; then the Commandos would followed by the Royal Marines and Paras; and finally the 19th and 52nd Brigades. On the eighth day all would be taken to the new camp in Alayna.

Liz was basically an observer most of the time; she took her Apache around and watched everything or would sit at the objective and watch them that way. She took a lot of notes; learning a lot about ground warfare by watching some of the best in the world practice it. She allowed her company commanders a lot of leeway; the Battalion Commanders were also mostly observers.

The weather stayed beautiful; not cooler than 50 degrees at night nor warmer than 74 degrees at day and clear and dry. The Desalination plants pumped out huge amounts of water that was mostly used up; but a fair amount each day was pumped into the reservoirs nearby. So Cyprus would have more water when they left then when they arrived.

The 8th day came and they rested for the morning and packed up; and moved to Alayna starting after noon. Between all the available choppers (the Turks came in at night so no one would notice them) they got the whole force to Alayna by midnight. Liz’s Black Hawks and Chinooks could take, for the short distance they needed to go, 1300 troops a go. Each flight lasted about 30 minutes; so they were able to before refueling each do 8 flights in a little over 9 hours; the 352nd SOG had all their tankers there refueling everyone. The Turkish and British choppers together could move 800; and they made 5 trips but could not be refueled by air. But in the end they got it done as Liz had hoped.

It was hilly and had lots of trees, where they were camped near Alayna. It was a beautiful area. Liz and the 161st stayed at Cyprus since there was no airfield nearby the camps. Liz had toyed with the idea of basically having a combat temp field but the terrain was not really suited for it; and she figured her crews were roughing it as it was. Though she intended sometime in the future to do just that.

The Turkish General had come up with some very interesting possibilities; and Liz liked that he left some things vague. During the time on Cyprus Liz and the overall commanders had thrown a few twists and turns in things at the last minute; making everyone scramble to react. The General had some built in and used them ruthlessly; catching the Commandos in one trap that had them scrambling to pull out. The SBS got even by having some Little Birds bring them right in and capture his HQ. Then in tit for tat the Turks had other Little Birds capture the 19th Brigade HQ. The Royal Scots Artillery were carted all over firing everywhere. They moved 12 times in 5 days; then at least once a day every day after that. They had found that a Black Hawk could carry one of their Howitzers and used that to surprise the Royal Marines one day and the Turks the next.

Finally on the 29th, that afternoon, it was decided that everyone was worn out and that was enough. A massive party was thrown by the Turkish army and it was a serious blow out. A fun time was had by all. There would be no early wake up the next morning and just about everyone needed the extra sleep.

As it turned out the 352nd SOG had been assigned by SOCOM to have Predators up filming everything. And they did manage to capture just about all of it; SOCOM had copies made and sent to every unit involved; it would be valuable training film for a long time to come. Liz and the Turkish General had been the only ones told about it. Everyone else found out when the video tapes arrived.

Getting up the next morning Liz was sad to leave this beautiful weather; but that was the way it was. While most were tearing down; the senior officers had gathered for one last meeting. Liz was glad to see how relaxed everyone was with each other; some friendships had been made that would last a long time; and ties with the Turkish Military had been strengthened quite a bit. Everyone seemed very satisfied that the training had been a big help to their units. The 19th and 52nd Brigade commanders each told Liz that they had learned a lot about their units; not all of it good but all of it valuable. Then one last time the helicopters got together and got everyone back to Cyprus; just as the first transports showed up; it had been decided to send the brits back first and the 161st would go back the next day. That night after the last transport left it was very quiet; the crews had already prepared the birds; and all they had to do was push them up the ramps into the transports. So everyone got a good night’s sleep.

The next morning the first transports got in at 0800 and the first ten were off by 0900. Liz made sure she was on the last plane as it left at 1400 the next day the next day and got in at 2000. She got back to her quarters at 2300. And fell into bed. She roused herself at 0700 and managed to make it to the office. She looked around and realized that only those that had been on the first flights were in; but that was ok. Everyone needed some rest. She put it out that they would have the Regimental Officer critique at 0900 the next day; the enlisted men at 1300.

Liz had been glad to see that her new Chinook company commander had done well. The Little Birds had done very well; both company commanders had shown very good ability to respond to the unexpected things that had come their way. Liz had tried to toss as many as she could at them. She had been gratified at how everyone had been pretty good at responding to changes that came from the blue; a few mistakes had been made but they were not bad ones. Overall she was VERY happy with the effort and results the 161st had shown.

The SOCOM commander finished watching the film; they had spent most of the day going over it. His entire staff had been there as well. He looked at them.  
“Comments?”

His Chief of Staff stirred. “I cannot remember the last time so many different things were tried in so short a time. Seemed like there was a competition.”

The Aviation Chief nodded. “Seemed that way to me as well; she really put her people through a grinder.”

SOCOM agreed. “There was not much else they could have done that they did not; just about everything except a Parachute drop was done there.”

His G4 mused. “I did not think a Black Hawk could pick up that artillery like it did; we need to keep that in mind in the future; though I imagine the range would not be all that great. And they were going too slow for aerial refueling. But still that is something to remember.”

The SF colonel in the meeting was pensive. “There were some things tried there that look very interesting; the Turks really got creative.”

SOCOM agreed. “Clearly there were no rules there; anything went. Which is frankly how training exercises need to be more often.”

The Deputy SOCOM quietly “There are a lot of people who upon reading the glowing reports you are going to hear from probably every unit that this very unstructured type of operation is so good to have, are going to really get worried. They see their carefully scripted training missions being scrapped in favor of the Wild West.”

SOCOM grinned. “The overall cost was quite low as well; well below any previous one of this size. When you add how successful it was; how much the units liked it; the speed it was put together; and the relatively little planning that was done for it, this could be a model.”

At every single HQ of every unit involved this was the song that was sung. And when other units heard it; they wanted to be able to sing one as well.


	18. As the World Turns

There was some down time after the Cyprus exercise; it had been pretty intense and everyone was tired; and the Choppers needed maintenance.

One of Jim Harkness’s duties was to keep his ears open and to prod SOCOM G2 for information on anything that looked likely to involve the Regiment. In other words, where things might be getting hot any time soon. Luckily SOCOM had made it plain for a long time that the SOAR regiment got tuned in to anything that looked likely; any warning was a good thing. 

Not all the news was bad when it came in; sometimes good news was shared as well. With the all but formal treaty with the Taliban by the Afghan government, official anti-Taliban operations were stopped. Now that did not mean covert operations ended. BUT since SF was forbidden by law from covert activities, they and the SOAR regiments were no longer to be deployed. What actually happened was that the CIA and their covert section –with assistance from SF personnel that were attached to them- a very gray area indeed (legally speaking) would now continue the anti Al Qaeda operations in Afghanistan and the tribal regions of Pakistan. Rumors were increasing that Osama Ben Laden had been dead for a while- his so called statements were pretty much figured to be old ones recycled-and what was left of the Al Qaeda leadership was in hiding and still a target. But it was no longer as important as it had been. SO baring something changing the 161st would not be sending any units there. However since the 161st was now the only aviation brigade outside the US, except for the one in Korea which was firmly dedicated there, it would be expected to support any US missions in its assigned area.

The bottom line was that SOCOM would no longer be the sole boss of the 161st; the technical line of command still went through there. But now CENTCOM, EUCOM, AFRICOM all could call on the 161st to support any mission. That had been intimated publicly before but it had been more of a smoke screen. Now it was not. And the tightened budgets everywhere meant a lot of people were looking for ways to stretch their operational and training budgets. While not exactly a gun for hire, in practical terms that might not be far off for the 161st. Since they were already closer than any US Aviation brigade, they would be called first on anything concerning Europe, the Middle East, Southwest Asia, and Africa.

Liz accepted this as the reality of the world; no use complaining. One rumble that she did not like was the one that suggested one of her Battalions be stationed at Ramstein, in order to be closer to any place of expected need; and right with transport assets. Liz was determined to fight this one tooth and nail; a battalion by itself could go rogue, so to speak. And they could not train in Germany like they could in Scotland; too congested in both ground training areas and air space. So far it had only been some muttering that did not seem to have the support to be pushed through; but she knew that it had to be watched. There had been talk of giving her another assault/transport battalion of Black Hawks and Chinooks; but she knew that then the pressure to put it at Ramstein would be very hard to resist. The only way to keep their training up and also prevent them getting too independent would be to rotate a battalion there every six months or so; but that would be lousy for families.

SOCOM was quite aware of the rumblings and had decided that he needed to talk things over with his new command; so he quietly came over for a quick conference the week after the Cyprus operation finished. He landed at night and left the next evening; so no one really knew he was there. It was a little cloak and dagger but he did enjoy stirring things up. He stayed in the VIP quarters and thus no one really saw him. Liz and Colonel Harkness visited him there. He started things off.  
“First let me congratulate you on that training operation; it went very well and you will get credit for most of it. Frankly, a lot of people are not very happy at how well it went. You planned it minimally; quickly; and cheaply. All things that are not supposed to work well. So now there will be a lot of pressure by the bean counters for others to do the same. Those that like their major training exercises planned a year in advance with many expensive meetings and strictly choreographed are going to be forced to do more with less. Which is a good thing in my book; it was getting ridiculous.”

Liz blushed slightly. “Thank you, Sir.”

“It is well deserved and enough of that. Now for the rumblings about Ramstein; this has been tossed around by EUCOM; but at the moment it has insufficient support to go anywhere. I agree with your reasons for opposing it. The trouble that the 160th had with their battalion at McCord Lewis just underlines the fact that your worry is not unfounded. It will almost certainly be moved back to Campbell as the battalion from Georgia will as well. The pressure to give you a fourth battalion is increasing; especially since many think that you already have too much of the hot spots and potential hot spots in your area of responsibility. Needless to say, once you get a fourth; and I think that it will happen; fighting that move will be a lot harder. The GOOD news there is that the Germans are getting more restrictive about their airspace and what you can do there; so your training worries will be easier to substantiate. So with any luck at all in a year or so when you get that fourth you should be able to keep it with the other 3.”

“That is good news sir. We have the room here; one of the design parameters was in case we got a fourth battalion.”

“Sometimes we get lucky. Enough of that as well. Now as regards the potential for being tasked by the other three commands: it will happen, there is no doubt of that. What will be will be. BUT the good news there is that we can tap them for funds for training; in addition to your normal budget. The BAD news is that they will expect you to do more training in Europe and elsewhere.”

“Actually Sir, that is not so bad. The weather was great in Cyprus.”

“Well training in the Sahara in mid-summer or the Balkans in winter will not be as nice.”

“Granted; but I think the more different areas and more different units and nationalities we train with the easier it will be to keep my command sharp and not let it get complacent.” 

SOCOM nodded; he really expected no less of her.  
“Fair enough. Now I know that you have Colonel Harkness here constantly on my G2 to warn of anything suspected of coming your way; and that is a good thing. But of course a lot of the time something comes up with little or no warning at all. So I hope you do not count too heavily on what you hear.”

“No sir. But I figure any information on anything is better than nothing.”

“OK, I buy that. One thing there is a greater possibility of you being tasked with is more humanitarian operations. There is a push now from the DOD for us to show our kinder and gentler natures; and I guess I do not have too much against that in this case. Just that you train your people to search and destroy; and not act as peace keepers. But since you will be strictly transport and escort that should not be too much of a problem. Those that you put on the ground will have most of the responsibility. But it might be something that you keep in mind for training your attack units.”

Liz sighed but nodded. She really did not want to go down that road but orders were orders and she knew it was a possibility. She made a mental note to discuss this with her battalion commanders.

“Now I do not have anything like a crystal ball; but I think the most likely areas you will end up sending your people into are still the usual suspects; the Middle East and southwest Asia. But I also think that the likelihood is less than it has been in a long time. Things are still unstable in Morocco, Libya, Egypt and Yemen. But the probability is that you will not go there. Iraq is also unlikely; and Afghanistan seems stable enough that you will not have to worry about it. Pakistan seems to be doing better and that is good. Though Ultimate Checkmate is still something to keep in mind.”

Liz shivered a little at that VERY secret and dire potential operation. It was the seizure by force of the Pakistani nuclear arsenal if it looked like Pakistan would come apart or a fundamentalist government came into power. She had been briefed on it when she went to Afghanistan the last time with her Super Apaches. That was one she hoped never saw the light of day. 

“Now for the areas that are more possible. The Balkans are still a mess; but the Europeans are determined to prove that they can handle it. But the possibility is that you would have to support them. So keep it in mind. I will not bother talking about the Russians; if they start anything they first pretty much have to take out the Ukraine and that will take them a while; long enough for us to move real force into Europe. So let us just skip by them. To be brutally honest I would be more worried about the situations in Western Europe than Russia: with all their economies still not recovered from the debt crisis and the near fall of the Euro, and more of their native populations disliking the immigrants more and more, adding to that the Muslim sections becoming more militant; things could happen in France, Denmark, Belgium, Spain or Italy. Eastern Europe is in better shape. Of course you getting involved in any of those areas would be a case of pulling our citizens out than anything else. Once again the humanitarian part. The rather constant rumblings from some of the old soviet republics are once again something you need to look at more in the case of pulling our people out; and our friends as well. Turkey seems ok; the Kurds are not doing anything more than usual and the near autonomous area they have in northern Iraq has taken a good deal of the steam out of the separatists. Africa once again is more a get our people out worry; we are not getting involved in Somalia again and there is nothing else really we care about down there. South Africa since the African National Congress lost power has settled down more than we had hoped.”

Liz looked at him as he paused, eyebrow up. He smiled slightly.  
“OK. Our number one worry of course has been for a while and will continue to be Iran. While their nuclear program is still stalled due to our little monkey wrenches, they still seem bent on getting some. Now the ability to miniaturize them to the point of being able to get them on a missile would be some years after they get a bomb, but we still are more than likely going to try and take it out. The popular protests have been stamped on; but as usual that just makes them harder and meaner. Does not end it. The Israelis are absolutely determined that they never get a bomb and I do not blame them; even with the wack job no longer the President it is clear the Mullahs still have the power. It is more than likely we will help them get it done but at the same time we still have the contingency plans to help them out. Which in the end would mean putting people on the ground to make sure that the centers are toast. We would parachute them in but getting them out would be your job. Needless to say it would not be easy. The other part is if there is a civil war; unless they are close to getting bombs we would stay out of it in all probability. At least I hope we do. They are still trying to finance various trouble makers but that is the Company’s problem not ours.”

Liz nodded; staying out of any civil war is always the best idea.

“So there you pretty much have it. That is the situation as it is at the moment; which means it could change tomorrow. Anyway, you will undoubtedly start getting more requests for training with more of the European militaries; and some of the Middle Eastern ones as well. Turkey really liked what you set up last time and will want to do it again. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and the gulf states will probably want some as well but I am looking at sending some of the 160th to do that; they have very little to do and less reason to train hard.”

Liz blinked a little at that; and then cocked her head and looked at SOCOM.  
“This goes nowhere but this room; is that clear?”

Liz and Jim nodded.

“The new commander of the 160th as you know is very raw to the SOAR; losing the last one we did to that accident that put him out of the army really hurt; we had no one to replace him. And unfortunately I am coming to the opinion that he might not be up to the job; he has decreased the training frequency to a point I do not like. So that is why I am going to send part of his people to the Middle East. I am looking for a replacement and I want to see if any of his battalion commanders look like they can get it done.”

Liz sat back and thought about that. Right before Christmas the 160th Commander had been hit by a drunk driver and the injuries had put him out of the military; his XO took over but he was brand new to SOAR. And if early word was any indication, backed by what SOCOM had just said, he would not be there long. Problem was that they just did not have many senior enough people in SOAR. A situation that had given her problems as well. There usually were not all that many officers above the rank of captain in the SOAR. Either one. Now there were former SOAR officers here and there at a higher rank, but usually they had left for their own reasons. So she imagined that SOCOM was looking hard at them to see if he could get one back. But that would not necessarily work. It took a certain kind of officer to run a SOAR; she knew that now. And it was now clear to her that she had been groomed for a couple of years to take the 161st. But there were no relief pitchers in the bullpen. She did not envy SOCOM. Those that had commanded the SOAR in the past were either out of the military or now too senior to take it over. She looked at SOCOM.  
“Really your only short term option is to give it to your Aviation Chief until a new one is trained up and ready.”

SOCOM nodded. He was not surprised that she had quickly figured out the only real option he had.

There were some other minor details to discuss but that was the meat of the meeting. He talked to Liz about the Cyprus and Turkey training and gave her a copy of the Predator tapes. She would find that useful in the future as regards rating her Battalion commanders. Also it would help her plan future training operations. 

Over the next few weeks Liz fielded training requests from several more British regiments; and was looking at arranging another fairly large one in the UK early in the spring to take care of them. And she started to get some requests from Spain and other mainland countries. Greece being one; which was no surprise; since she had trained with the Turks the Greeks wanted equal treatment; and she knew that it was a must. An evil idea occurred to her and she sent a quiet Email to SOCOM about it; pushing EUCOM into funding it. Take some of the regiments from England and go to Greece. Take some others and go to Spain. SOCOM sent back that she should make a formal request for multiple Major Command support for them. Which meant he would support her. So she got Jim and they worked the next two days, calling the various British Regiments and giving them a general time frame- she was looking at late March. Jim contacted the Spanish and they agreed with the place proposed. The treaty to return Gibraltar to Spanish control while maintaining a British base there had eased things between the two countries. It would be the start of that operation that would be interesting; the 161st would pick up a Battalion of British troops and their equipment and then launch an assault on a position held by Spanish troops. Then they would do it the other way. Meanwhile the Spanish helicopters would be working with the 161st on training on rapid assaults on various types of terrain. The whole exercise would involve 3 British regiments and 3 Spanish regiments and their Air Assault units. As was being usually done the US would transport the British troops; the 161st would do that in two days. A POL point would be established to fuel all helicopters.

The exercises went off well; once again Liz got with the commanders for both sides and they agreed on a very unstructured operation. The Apache’s and Little Birds did not have much to do; and Liz felt it was time to work them hard; so with permission from the Spanish, they used an Air Force bombing range to live fire all weapons. Liz had them at it for two days and they shot off a lot of ordnance. The Tiger attack helicopters of the Spanish forces also participated; they had become operational not long ago and were green. So Liz in her Super Apache led platoons of them in maneuvers and firing on the go; that lasted two more days. Liz would fire at a target and they raced to hit the same target; forcing them to move and shoot fast. They were ragged the first few hours; but after the second day Liz took them out for some night shooting and they did very well. The Spanish general in charge extravagantly thanked Liz for showing them how it was done. By not telling them what she was going to do, she forced them to read and react; a different way than they had been training. General Morales flat out told his training officer he was not doing it right and relieved him the first day. Liz ended up staying three extra days after the 161st left to help the Spanish re write their attack helicopter training program.

Two months later she got a very nice thank you from General Morales; they had just had a exercise witnessed by the King and the Attack Helicopters had surprised the Army unit by their ability to move fast and shoot fast and hit their targets; the army expected them to hover when firing and were unable to respond effectively. The King complimented the General and he straight out told the King that she had made it possible. A letter of Appreciation was hand delivered to Liz by the Spanish Ambassador to England. As well as an invitation to a formal Royal dinner celebrating the Spanish Military later that year. Liz accepted; one more time in the Mess Dress.

The NATO training missions began to add up; Italy, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary sent in requests. The Greek Operation would be first; in early May. Then Liz was looking at doing the three Balkan countries in one go. Italy next.

The Greek training mission was solely with Greek forces; their Army air assault units, their Marines and two chosen Army battalions. Once again it was the case of the 161st training them up. The exercise lasted three days and all were satisfied. The Greek general in command wanted to see what the Little Birds could do and with the Greek Commandos they did; they captured his HQ that night. In some ways it was very relaxing for Liz.

Things changed in the combined Balkan training mission; Hungary asked to be done separately. Liz was informed by SOCOM G2 that their budget was a problem and they did not want to look bad in front of the Romanians and Bulgarians. So Liz took the 161st to Hungary first and three days later to Bulgaria where they trained with both Army and transport units.

Hungary did have problems; Liz was at her diplomatic best and managed to get things done anyway. They spent 3 full days working with just about their entire Army; assaults and movements and all sorts of things. They were noticeably more able when the 161st left.

Romania and Bulgaria were easy in comparison; they still had things to learn but their budgets allowed more training so the basics did not have to be relearned.

Italy was next; in July; but it was in the mountains so it was not so bad. Italy had a very well trained military and the exercises were less about teaching then trying to stretch each other. When they got back from the 5 days there; Liz told the unit to get some rest. The near constant training over the last 6 months had worn them down; so Liz had blocked out all of August for basically rest and relaxation.

She got back from Italy to be told the fourth battalion would stand up in October; the equipment was transferred in from one of the Aviation Brigades that had been disbanded. The Personnel were in training with the SOAR training battalion at Campbell; they had been working on the people since March.

She looked over the personnel files of the officers she would get; luckily the Battalion commander came from the 160th where he had been an XO. But only a handful of the rest were already SOAR. It would be a green battalion. But so be it.

Trouble started to brew in Late July. The Euro crisis started up again when Germany flat out said they would not put any more money into the effort; enough was enough. Since they were the main backer that sent shockwaves everywhere. Interestingly the countries that had all started the problem back in 2008, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Greece had more or less shaped up; Greece was still a problem but it was under control. Now it was Belgium, Netherlands, and Denmark who were in the worst shape. Unrestrained social spending had not been cut as much as needed and they had raised taxes which had caused more capital flight. France was openly pushing their Muslim population to leave; that had gotten ugly but the French Military and Police had so far maintained control. Calls for sanctions against France had mostly fizzled; the interesting part was that France and the US had better relations now than they had had for a long time.

As was to be expected the immigrants were the first to catch the heat; and beatings and demonstrations began to spread just as the continent entered the period of greatest heat. A bad combination.

France’s government; a more hard core and nationalistic one then had been seen in many years; also refused to put more money into the Euro. It called for countries to have austerity budgets and get things under control. Germany had also gone to the right and was saying they were no longer going to bail out the Euro.

The US, which had been pretty quiet in this, mostly played the calming influence as much as possible; even though the immediate effects were better for the US economy, which had had a couple of very good years recently. The more stringent budgets and at last capping spending on Medicare and Welfare, along with the first real cuts in the Federal government, had gone a long way towards removing the deficit. This was the first year that there was real hope that the budget would be balanced by the end of the year. Contrary to many predictions by the more liberal political figures, less government spending had not had the disastrous effect they had hoped would happen. It had been tough on the US Military, but true reforms in spending and heavy cuts in overhead (The Pentagon had been cut in half as regards personnel) had helped a lot. The real problem had been the commercial real estate crisis that had started in 2011 and gone through 2012. It had finally started to ease in 2013 and had helped speed the recovery.

China as usual tried to find an opportunity to expand its influence by offering loans at low rates to the country’s most in trouble. Not that China was doing all that well; the pollution effects had finally forced them to start working hard at controlling it and they were finding out how much that cost. Several natural disasters had also drained their huge savings accounts; added to which millions were demanding better public services. But they as usual saw a chance to get more international influence and made their move. The country’s needed money and looked for it from China; but then found out there were strings attached. They had to grant concessions to Chinese firms. Desperate left wing governments took the money and then found out that their people did not like it. This happened at the beginning of August just in time for another heat wave to hit.

Liz walked to her quarters; it was just after five that Wednesday afternoon. It was unseasonably warm; it was almost 75. Which for this area was a heat wave; much to the amusement of the Americans. But farther south in England it was getting towards 80. And higher in some areas. Which for a country that had very little air conditioning, but lots of humidity, made things very uncomfortable. But it was still not as bad as it was on the Continent. There temps of 85-90 were hitting.

Liz had had Jim keep an eye on things; with the current crisis plus the heat she wanted no surprises. He called her that evening.  
“Colonel, sorry to bother you but some Flash traffic just came in.”

“That is OK Jim at least I finished dinner. Poor Max will have to do the dishes.”

Liz went into the Communication room and signed for the Flash Traffic; she then had to use her own decoder for her to read it. This did not happen often; usually it meant an intelligence update; but to use Flash, the highest priority and security, meant it was important.

She took the pages of gibberish and went to her office; opened her safe, took out her code book and since this was the modern Army was able to use her computer to decode and print it out; the program was such that as soon as it printed it was erased in every way from the computer. 

It was an intelligence update and made for very worrying reading.

She read it once, then again then sat and thought for a while. Then looked at the clock; it was almost 9 PM. She decided to lock it in her safe and talk to Jim about it the next morning. She went back home and tried to forget it for the evening.

At 0730 the next morning she buzzed Jim to stop by. When he came in she motioned for him to shut the door; she then opened her safe and handed him the message. It was several pages long so it took him awhile to read it all. He finally looked up at her.  
“OK, this is not good. Question is how does it affect us?”

“If the EU collapses, which is what they think might happen, then it could get very ugly. England has some edges in that they still have the pound and they are separated from the continent. So our immediate situation is not a problem. BUT the upheaval could get very nasty and guess what: SOCOM warned us about having to evacuate people. The governments that took the Chinese money are incredibly unpopular at the moment; there could be massive rioting in the streets there. France and Germany are probably the only two countries that could be expected to not go up in smoke; France because they already have their military deployed and Germany because their economy is doing OK. Eastern Europe would not see the effects for a while. Greece could be a worry because the unions are still butt hurt about the austerity programs. Belgium, Netherlands and Denmark had the most giveaways that have been taken away. The good news is that there are not a lot of weapons there. My question would be what if the military and police just quit as well. If things collapse none of them get paid. And that could spread most places. We could have the whole continent bubbling.”

He nodded slowly. “So what do we do?”

“Good news is that there are no training missions currently scheduled; not for a month. And those only relatively local ones with British regiments. So for the moment we will cancel any leaves that have anyone going to the continent; get the word out. And anyone going to the US, warn them they could be next. We might need everyone.” 

Liz sat in her office after he left; she put the message in the safe. It had gone into detail why they thought this was possible; and it made sense. But they also figured that the Europeans would do just about anything to keep things from collapsing. So odds were some kind of deal would be made. Liz was not so sure; she had made a point of having the newspapers (in English) delivered from Paris, Berlin, Rome, Brussels, etc. She had been reading them and the message had not surprised her all that much. A lot of people in Germany were very fed up paying the freight for the other countries; and the amount of social spending was too high. ‘Cradle to Grave’ sounded great in a campaign speech; but paying for it was another matter. Add to that the choking regulations that Brussels had cranked out each year to add to the rest.

She decided that brooding about it was not helpful and went back to her paper work.

The next couple of days saw more tension as Germany made it absolutely clear that they were not going to give in to entreaties to bail out the Euro. As expected that started getting comments from other countries about greedy Germans. Then some started saying Germany owed it to Europe. Their Chancellor had this to say:   
“Germany no longer owes a debt for WW2. That has been paid many times over. Germany has the responsibility for Germany first and then other nations.”

The far left Green party screamed about this; but their influence had waned with the Euro. And a new poll showed 65% of Germans wanting shut of the Euro and the EU.

That seemed to really start things going. France announced that they were leaving the Eurozone, which meant giving up on the Euro. They would be going back to the Franc. Like dominoes over the next few days country after country abandoned the Euro and went back to their old currencies. The UK just said that they were saddened about this and would maintain the pound. In one week the Euro was dead.

Needless to say that caused a ruckus. Surprisingly to some, there were no mass demonstrations about people angry about leaving the EU. There were attempts to organize them, but were met with either indifference or downright hostility.

Each country was stuck with the dilemma: what should be the official exchange rate for people turning in their EURO’s for new currency. Not that this would happen overnight. It would take weeks if not months before enough of the currencies were made to even start an exchange. Meanwhile the EURO still had to be used. The countries all agreed that they would be used until 1 Jan 2016.

Gold, silver, Dollars, the British Pound; all were in demand as people tried to get rid of their Euro’s. Gold which had dropped below $800 an ounce sky rocketed back to the records set in 2011; over $1600 an ounce. Silver hit $50 an ounce. The US Dollar strengthened hugely; the British pound was not far behind. Many banks refused to exchange money.

China, despite the rebuff, tried again to gain influence by attempting to make deals with countries that still had their own currencies; like much of Eastern Europe. Once again loans with strings; and this time the governments wisely turned up their noses. The Chinese government was all very puzzled about this.

The media was on this like stink on a skunk. Talking heads blathering everywhere about everything. Saying very little that meant anything to people on the street.

Also one after another governments fell. Netherlands, Denmark and Belgium first; but Italy’s and Portugal’s next, not a surprise since they had been coalition ones anyway. Spain wavered but held on. Ireland as well. Some EU types, still not getting it, tried to schedule an emergency summit to try and save the EU and the Eurozone. It failed miserably as most governments did not even bother to respond and those that did rejected it. It was accepted that the EU was an idea that had failed. And that was that. The massive EU bureaucracy was the first to get fired; 170,000 were told they were done that next week since there was no money to pay them and no job for them to do. Germany’s Bundestag formally voted by 4-1 to leave the EU and Eurozone. France was next. Spain and Ireland followed in days. 

Belgium took the biggest immediate hit with the firing of the EU mob. Of course many of them would return to their home countries; but it was still a big group of suddenly jobless people.

Brutal humor started to appear. When one commentator wondered if they would riot, another one pointed out that there were no manuals or regulations regarding how to riot so there was no worry. 

While Liz was glad to see that so far, 10 days into it, there were no massive riots, it was still not good. Every country had put their military on higher alert. In many cities riot police were a virtually permanent sight. Now that each country would be thrown on their own resources, things were starting to come to light. Pundits and so called experts started to make predictions.

This was all eclipsed as on 15 August France announced that they would start to deport illegal immigrants to their countries of origin. Forcibly and they would start combing the immigrant areas for them. Things started to get ugly and rioting by immigrants started and was brutally put down with tear gas and beatings.

Morocco said they would not take any and France said they were getting them whether they liked it or not. Turkey was more realistic and said they would but they would be put in camps to sort out. Many Muslims that could bought tickets to their old countries and got out.

That of course started to stoke problems in the Middle East. Turkey seemed OK at the moment but that remained to be seen over the longer run. Eastern European immigrants headed back there which would be a strain on them but the numbers were not huge. The first plane loads of them arriving in Morocco and elsewhere were not covered by the media simply because the governments refused to allow it.

The UN was pretty much out of it since France would veto anything the Security Council tried to do; and the General Assembly was useless. 

Some Pollyanna’s thought that since there had been no huge riots that things would settle down. They refused to acknowledge the fact that a very critical event had occurred.

Russia meanwhile watched all this with barely hidden glee. They were figuring that they would gain from all this. They had never been particularly comfortable with what was virtually a super state building on their borders. Then someone in the Russian government did the math and realized that since all their arrangements had been in Euro’s with all the European countries they were going to have to get down to it as well. The oil and gas industry in Russia, the great engine that kept the country going, had been starved of investment. Production of both were going down and no end was in sight. Increased defense spending was another huge drain and deficits were jumping. To a neutral observer it would seem that Russia would need to get its own house in order but that would have been ignored by the Russian government anyway.

Those that think coincidences can happen were bolstered by the events that began in China. Earthquakes and floods had been unusually damaging then came the big one; a 7.5 right near the Three Gorges Dam. The whole world turned away from Europe to watch the huge dam crack and fail. The flood was called Biblical and it was. 1 million died or were swept away. 10 million were homeless. The loss of electric power was immense; and meant that China would have to start up coal fired plants they had mothballed. The cost of all this was estimated at $1 trillion dollars. China would be concentrating on its own wellbeing for some time to come.

With the big money bag now out of the discussion, Europe returned to its own problems. The week that everyone had been watching China had given the European governments some breathing room. Since the EU was dead and everyone knew it, now each country had to start doing things like border control and immigration and so on. Some of the displaced EU personnel started to find jobs. It seemed like things might not be so bad after all.

6 weeks after the first governments fell, elections began to happen. Now it was seen that having them that fast was probably not the best idea but the pressure was on to get new people in. The results were as expected. In one country after another the right wing parties got into power. And they began to cut spending.

The forced repatriation France did was nothing to what happened when the overpaid underworked bureaucrats started to get fired or told to make things better. They began to strike. The Governments, fresh from political victories, fired them. Which did nothing to calm things down. They began to riot, joined by other disaffected types. The governments, seeing their police were outmanned, called in their militaries. In Brussels and elsewhere it was messy and bloody. 

Liz had put the 161st on alert as soon as the riots had begun. She was alerted by SOCOM that tasking’s to bring people out would come through the State Department. Liz called the 352nd SOG and alerted them they might need refueling. Liz then talked to her base ops people and had them start getting prepared for a lot of people staying there. Material and supplies were ordered from the US. The good thing was that many US citizens had already gotten out of Europe. But Liz knew she might be pulling other nations citizens out so that might not mean all that much.

The first alert from the State department came the very next morning. They wanted all their people out of Brussels. They were closing the embassy. The rioting appeared to pause for a bit and Liz moved. She sent in every Black Hawk she had to Melsbroek Air Base and went with them; leaving her Apache behind. She felt that was not a good thing to have around at the moment. 50 Black Hawks, from the 4th Battalion as well even though they had not yet technically stood up, landed and waited. Liz got a predator up, courtesy of the Belgian Army, and looked the situation near the embassy over. There were riots not far away, but they were not too bad. She called the ambassador.

“Ambassador, this is Colonel Parker. Ready when you are.”

“Right now would be good, Colonel.”

“We will be there in 20 minutes sir. So you have a count?”

“237 people so far. But more might show up.”

“Very well. May I speak to your marine commander for details?”

“Of Course, here he is.”

“Major Haywood here, Colonel. Do you have a picture of the Embassy?”

“Actually I have a predator up right now looking at it live. If you want to step out the door you can wave to us.”

“That will work. I am on a satellite phone so I will be coming out the entrance at the side. Heading there now. I am out the door and waving to you.”

“I see you. Where do you want us to land?”

“The clear area I am standing in right now. We should be able to get 3 in at a time.”

“Looks doable; I will be in the first one.”

“Be watching for you, Colonel.”

Liz looked at her commanders. “Just like the plan. A Company first; I will call once the first batch are off and the last ones are landing. B Company next. And so on until all are gone.” Then she looked at the others. “We are taking them right to Ramstein.” She also reminded them to make sure all passengers had the hearing protection they had brought with them. 

Then before she got into the lead Blackhawk, she called Ramstein. They had been waiting and they let her know they would be ready.

Flying over Brussels the smoke from the rioting was very dense. It was only ten minutes flying time to the Embassy. She landed with two others and got out to take the Salute from the Marine Major who took her to meet the Ambassador.

“Good day, Ambassador. Is the first group ready?”

“Good day, colonel. They are. All are going to Ramstein?”

“Yes sir. They are waiting.”

“Very well. My family and I will be the last ones out just before the Marines.”

She nodded. That was usual. She watched as the civilians flowed out and into each of the black hawks. She noted with approval that they were organized 12 at a time. It took only 5 minutes to load the first three. She was quietly surprised as nothing went wrong and they had everyone but the Marines and the Ambassador and his wife and herself out. The last Black Hawk came in and she and the Ambassador and the Marine Major and the last 6 men of his unit got in. She called the rest of the unit and told them to head home. It was a little over an hour to fly to Ramstein. Once there she had the Black Hawk refueled and then led the whole group back to Scotland.

Brussels seemed to be the only city that had really bad rioting; there were others around but nothing that bad. 3 ‘A’ teams of Green Berets had become guests of Liz’s; just in case they had to go and get some more elsewhere. Brussels had not been bad but the decision upstairs was that she needed some there.

Every morning Liz had a meeting with the senior Captain of the 3 teams, Jim, and the head of her small intelligence section. The current situation was looked over and discussed.

5 days after Brussels, the situation in France took a turn for the worse when the French President was assassinated. A car bomb took him and a good part of his cabinet out at a PR event outside of Paris. The event had only been publicized hours before he appeared so the odds were that it had gotten leaked. The head of the Senate assumed office and would rule until a new election. France went on National Alert. Martial Law was declared and a dusk to dawn curfew was put in place. France then sealed its borders and would not let anyone in or out. All airports were shut down as was the Chunnel and all trains and roads blocked.

A left wing group claimed responsibility but no one knew if it meant anything. Sentiment turned very definitely against immigrants when it was found that the driver had been a Turk. Several others detained quickly thereafter consisted of all immigrants or far left activists. Many had been forced out already but now they were being chased out.

Liz and her small group looked the situation over. SOCOM called and informed her that they might have to go in and take the Ambassador out. Forcibly. Liz kind of doubted it; she had a good source of information. Her good friend the group captain had another good friend who was a general in the French air force, and they stayed in touch. The troops around all embassies were to make sure no one tried to get asylum. No more. Until they were sure they had all those involved France was locked down. Liz called SOCOM and without mentioning names described her source. Then she was told something she had not known; that the Ambassador to France was a close personal friend of the US President. So that made things a little tighter. With that in mind Liz contacted the Group Captain and asked if he could get him to talk to her directly. He called back an hour later and told her that the General only called one number; and she needed to be in London. So she got a black hawk and was there in a little over an hour and a half.

The Group captain made a call which was to another officer. He would talk to the general who would then call the number.

“Is this Colonel Elizabeth Parker?”

“Yes it is.”

“Enchante’ Madame. I understand you are under some pressure from Washington about the embassy and the ambassador?”

“That is putting it mildly, General. The President is leaning hard.”

“I can assure you that no one wants to do anything to any ambassador or embassy. That is from the absolute top. We hope to have the last of them in 24 hours and then things will settle down.”

“That is good to hear. I will do my best to calm things down in Washington.”

“You must visit Paris when it is quiet.”

“I hope to do that soon, General.”

Liz took a deep breath then pulled out her special encrypted satellite phone and called SOCOM direct.

“Sir. Just spoke to the source- a general inside Paris. Everything we have been able to find out backs him up that this is very temporary. Not a threat to any embassy.”

“Hang on Colonel. Call this number- it is the White House.”

Liz told the Group captain she needed a room alone and he took her to a nearby conference room. She took another deep breath and called the number.

“Hold for the President.”

“Colonel Parker.”

“Mr. President.”

“What is the situation?”

“According to a French Air Force General I just talked to, they are surrounding all the embassies to make sure none of the suspects get asylum. That goes with what we have learned from other sources. At this time I can say with some confidence there is no threat to our Embassy.”

“Very well. Straight, Colonel. If we have to force our way in what are the odds?”

“Getting in is one thing Mr. President; getting out is another. I think we can get in; I doubt we can get out.”

There was silence for a bit. “OK. Keep an eye on the situation. I want to know if anything changes right away. Use this number.”

“Understood Mr. President.”

“Good day, Colonel.”

“Good day, sir.”

Liz took another deep breath. Then she headed back to Scotland.

The next day signs showed things were easing up and Liz was able to relax some. None of the scenarios she had looked at with the SF guys had been in any way encouraging. Two days later the troops around the embassies were removed and Liz took a real deep breath.

The riots in Brussels died down after a week and the government announced an even tougher budget. Those without employment would have to help collect garbage, street clean, etc. in order to get a check. The fact that it stayed quiet after that showed that it was sinking in that the easy times of doing nothing and getting a fat check were gone.

After that was done in Belgium, Denmark and Netherlands followed. This kind of budget and hard core attitude spread steadily across Europe. Immigrants, especially those without jobs, left Europe and headed back east or south.

With the beginning of September what passed for a kind of normalcy began to return to Europe. The SF left and went back to the states and Liz took the unit off of Alert status. She then began to look at training again. She still had several British regiments interested and decided that since they wanted to do it at different times that she would split the Regiment up so that everyone would get some time in.

The financial situation seemed to be sorting itself out better than anyone had thought it would. With the new tougher budgets, the countries found their credit ratings starting to climb, which made borrowing cheaper. The markets started to recover and gold and silver began to drop back down. All in all things looked like they would be all right. 

The revolution season the Middle East had in 2011 had changed things in Libya and Egypt. Libya had its oil and was able to start to build something once they got decent leadership. Egypt, however, had not done so well. Which was not surprising to anyone that could look at the situation intelligently. Egypt had very little in the way of natural resources. So they did not have much that they did not make themselves. They had a relatively large population that was overall not very well educated. There was not a whole lot of industry and without an educated public not much more was going to be built. The new government made noises like they wanted a theocracy but that did not last long. However they managed to lose all their goodwill within a year of taking over from the Army. A year later and they were out. The next group was better but still hamstrung by basic economic realities. A large number of Egyptians had been run out of Europe and had to go home. They of course wanted some of the fat benefits that they had gotten in Europe. They joined the disaffected wanting more; not caring that there just was not more. The good news was that there was no real hard core Islam’s that had much support. The various opposition parties fought each other as much as the government. What had settled in was a stagnant situation unlikely to get better.

Syria still had Assad jr as leader, but was starting to fray around the edges more and more. Syria also had little in the way of natural resources or industry, though they had overall a better educated people than Egypt did. The army was not happy since its budget was cut but was forced to accept the fact that the country could tear itself apart if anything else was done.

Most of the rest of the Middle East continued to muddle along. Iraq was as it had been; still not totally peaceful but better than it had been. Israel and the Palestinians were still negotiating; probably would be for many more years. The Oil kingdoms just kept selling their oil. They sent enough to Syria and Egypt to prevent collapse but that was about it. Looking at the rest of Africa, Morocco was not doing too well taking back the thousands of immigrants from France. But it was holding on. Other than that Africa had not changed much.

Mexico had finally pulled itself out of the drug mess; helped when the US finally closed the border using regular troops and the National Guard. This backed up by a new immigration bill that gave everyone 90 days to register or be tossed out to never be let back in. Those that registered had 5 years to become a US Citizen or leave. The new president of Mexico quietly asked for CIA assistance to kill the heads of the Mexican drug cartels. In one month the leaders of all of them were dead. With the US border closed and shut for once most of the drugs could no longer get through-and the gangs turned on each other to wipe out any competitors. Leaderless, they basically killed themselves off in a sea of blood. It was a terrible six months, but once it ended the Mexican people finally stood up and demanded an honest government. In the three years since that happened, a lot of progress had been made.

South America was quiet; Venezuela post Maduro had continued to put itself back together. Nothing major was going on elsewhere. The same for most of the Pacific as well. North Korea seemed to be steadily sinking; everyone around waiting for the final death throes. China would be concentrating on China for some years to come. Japan had begun to pull itself out of the post-earthquake/tsunami/reactor melt down and was doing better.

Liz had instructed her intelligence chief to keep her up to date around the world; while spending most of his time on her area of responsibility. He was telling her one day in early October that things might be shaking lose in Russia. Liz looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“What do you mean?”

“A very close friend of the Russian President was killed yesterday; probably by the Russian mafia.”

She blinked at that. The Russian Mafia was very powerful, but that was a very dumb thing to do. The Russian president had been a protégé of Putin; and was known to be very tough.

The next day the Russian president ordered the security forces to destroy the Russian Mafia no matter what the cost.

And it would prove to be very costly. In the first month over 1000 were killed and 10,000 arrested. 3 assassination attempts barely failed. After the third one he declared Martial law, which was a joke since it had already happened for all intents and purposes. The Russian mafia had gotten very arrogant, sure that they would never be attacked directly. Therefore they had not been all that careful about disguising who they were. Most of the military and virtually all of the more elite of the military were loyal and the Mafia died by the hundreds. Documents and paperwork captured implicated more than one third of the Duma and many government supervisors.

Needless to say many chose to run but found the borders closed on both sides; the other former parts of the Soviet Union began their own crackdown. Within three months the most feared Mafia in the world was destroyed. 

Almost missed was another important happening; the application of a virus designed to specifically destroy the poppy plant. This had been known about since early 2000; and how it got out no one would ever admit. The CIA was suspected but no one found any evidence. It spread all over the world and the poppy plant virtually disappeared. Which meant the heroin that it came from disappeared. This was the final blow for the teetering drug world. Meth was still a problem but manageable since much more could now be brought to bear on it with the other drug problems disappearing. There would always be some but it was now something that no longer threatened to destroy cities and countries.

But for all the good news some bad started to also show up. The remnants of the Islamic extremists decided they needed to make a big statement that they were not yet defeated. And what better way to do that then with a big bang. But to do that you needed a big bomb. There had been a few other attempts at attacks similar to Mumbai, but they had mostly failed. They still had supporters in the ISI though nowhere near what they had before. They worked on a very secret plan; one they hoped would once again establish their power and reach.

Liz had started to do training missions again with willing British regiments; of which there were always some. With the passing of the holidays, and things settling down, Liz was contemplating taking some time off for a real holiday. Take Max and the kids somewhere for at least a week or more. With France becoming peaceful again, she was looking at the Riviera. Not too far away if she had to be recalled, but warm and sunny. Max leered at her and wondered if they could go to any nude beaches; she smiled at him and said NO.

The third week in January Liz took her first real leave in almost two years. They found a nice quiet area on the Riviera and just basked in the sun. They did not go into any nude beaches; but considering what was supposedly swim wear it did not make much difference. Liz put on a string bikini and got a very nice tan. Aliya had blossomed and this was also a bit of a celebration of her 16th birthday. Her naturally darker skin tanned very well; while Max and James had to slaver on the sunscreen. Liz was not aware that someone had recognized her and took pictures until they appeared in one of the French Newspapers a week later. Liz was very thankful she had not taken her top off. But Max told her she should be happy the pictures were so flattering. Liz was in top shape and the bikini certainly showed it. She looked years younger than 33.


	19. Immortality part deux

Being who she was and her position Liz kept her satellite phone with her at all times. After their tenth day, with two more to go, she had just about forgotten it. They had just come in that evening to their motel room, ready to change and go out for dinner, when it rang. Liz sighed and answered it.   
“Parker.”

“Sorry to break into your vacation but we got put on full alert. You need to get back; no reason given.”

Liz sighed and agreed. She looked at Max and he shrugged. “Oh, well.”

“We need to get to the Marseilles Airport. They have a C-20 on its way; it should be there in about an hour.”

Liz had brought a uniform with her just in case, which worked out well.

They were back in Scotland in 2 hours. Liz went right to HQ and Jim was waiting for her. He told her that the alert had come and that they said more information would be coming soon. Liz then got on the secure line to SOCOM.

“Colonel Parker. I need an idea of what is coming so I can get people ready. Just putting us on alert is not really all that helpful.”

She got the G2. “Colonel, more information is coming soon; but I can say it will mean you will need long range transport. Ramstein and 352nd SOG have also been alerted.”

“Then have the transports come here NOW. We can be loading as we wait if it is as critical as you think it is.”

“Very well. They will be told. How many do you want?”

“Everything they have. If it turns out to be a false alarm they can go back. Better to have them here and not need them then the other way around.”

“Agreed.”

After Liz hung up, she looked at Jim. “Let’s get everyone ready to go; the whole Regiment.”

It was 4 hours before the first transport arrived; a C-17. Liz was told several more were on their way; C-5’s would be coming by early morning. She decided to have Apaches, Black Hawks and Little Birds loaded in the first group.

A total of 7 C-17’s got in by Midnight; they already had two loaded before the rest showed up. The first had 2 Apache’s; the Second had 4 Little Birds. The third had 2 Black Hawks. The fourth had 4 Attack Little Birds. #5 had 2 Apache’s; #6 was 2 Black Hawks; #7 Had 4 Little Birds; then the first C-5 showed up and they got the first Chinook into it plus another Attack Little Bird.

Liz deliberately sacked out at midnight; the orders were in. So far no more word from SOCOM. She had her intelligence people looking at the news and everything they could think of but no one had a clue. Which told her the information was really deep. 

She got up at 0600 and was at the Field by 0630. It was getting crowded. She ordered the first aircraft to head to Mildenhall to wait. 2 more C-5’s had appeared and were being loaded with Chinooks and Attack Little Birds. Another C-17 had arrived and 2 Black Hawks were going on it. She was told enough aircraft would be there to load then entire regiment by the end of the day. She also ordered the crews of the birds already on their way to Mildenhall to catch the next plane out. The ground crews as well. At 0800 Jim contacted her; SOCOM was calling. She got to the office on her scooter in 5 minutes.

She took the secure phone from Jim and answered.  
“This is Colonel Parker.”

SOCOM answered. “Colonel, how much of your unit is loaded and moving?”

“One Company of Apaches; All my Little Birds both regular and attack; one company of Black Hawks and one platoon of Chinooks.”

“Good. Get them headed to Kandahar ASAP.”

At that moment Liz knew what it was all about and her heart almost stopped.  
“Ultimate Checkmate.”

SOCOM paused for a moment. “I guess I should not be surprised. The good news is that it is not all of them. The Bad news is that two storage areas have been targeted. If they get there they will blow them up if we try anything. We think we have a day- maybe two. But not likely. We cannot tell the Pakistani army because we do not know who we can trust. So you will be going in to take those two sites. We are quietly working with some unit commander we trust to make sure the others are OK. But two of them there is no one near. More details will be waiting when you get to Kandahar.”

“Sir won’t they know we know if the 161st shows up at Kandahar?”

“That is true. Which is why before the first aircraft gets there they will be sent to a temporary field we have ready or will have ready. Make sure your people have everything they need for field ops. There will only be fuel there, nothing else. I do not need to tell you that this is absolutely top secret; Kandahar is what you tell anyone that you have to tell – but do not do that if you don’t.”

“Sir wouldn’t Bagram be a better diversion?”

“Point. Use that instead. Should have thought of that myself. Good thinking Colonel.”

Liz sighed after she hung up. She had motioned for Jim to leave the room when she got there. She would tell no one else; and Bagram only if she had to.

She opened her door and brought him in. Then closed it.  
“Ultimate Checkmate.” He paled. “Bagram first but do not tell anyone that unless you have to. We will go on a course for Baghdad then change at the last minute for Bagram.”

She then got on the radio and told the planes already heading for Mildenhall to start circling. Then she saw another C-17 land. She went to Jim.  
“Get my bird on this one. Make sure the supplies for anything we need is coming with us. Work on the assumption that we are going to a field that has nothing.”

2 Hours later Liz was with the first wave heading to Ultimate Checkmate.

Liz looked at her note board. She had about one third of the unit with her now; the next one third would be in the air in a few hours; the last with the parts and such would be in the air before dark. It was 8 hours flight time. She decided to see if she could get some sleep, telling those with her to do the same. She wanted to be woke up an hour out of Baghdad.

The message came to her just as she was woken up. The coordinates for the emergency field. She went to the flight deck.

“Captain, these are the coordinates to where we are going. Contact the other aircraft with us and let them know. I will contact command so that the planes following us know.”

After that Liz tried to get more sleep and did nod off for a while.

The one good thing about the field was that it did have a long runway; it had been repaired a few years ago just in case. But as was promised, outside of some C-130’s unloading fuel bladders, there was nothing else. They did contact them with wind and temperature readings; and they landed one by one.

She ordered the 4 C-5’s with them to park as far away as possible. The extra time and people needed to take out the Chinooks and get them ready were needed elsewhere; they would be last. Each transport carried a full combat load for her Apache’s plus 4 aux tanks. Same with the Little Birds sans tanks. She then headed to the parked C-130’s; they had moved to the dirt area to free up as much concrete as possible. Going in the lead one she found a SF Colonel waiting for her.

“Colonel Parker, Colonel Johnson. 5th Group. I have 3 teams here and more on the way.”

“Colonel, have they given you any updates?”

“Not much. I have the coordinates of the two storage sites. Normally each has half a company of guards. Satellites have seen nothing unusual so far. We have a live feed for both here.”

She looked at the areas; they were in the south of the country, in the mountains; as far from India as possible without being too close to Afghanistan. Target 1 was 175 miles away; Target 2 was 250 miles away.

She looked at the colonel. “What plans are there for the Pakistani Air Force?”

“AWACS will be jamming their radar; and their radios in the southern part of the country. We will have top cover of F-15’s.”

Liz nodded. About as good as she could hope for. This would be a night time operation anyway. Then the secure phone beeped and the Colonel answered it; and listened; she saw his face pale some then grow grimmer. “Yes Sir we will start planning immediately.” He hung up and looked at Liz.

“It is being moved up. Word is that they will move tomorrow.”

Liz looked at her watch. It was 1300 local time. She went outside and looked at the field. They had unloaded the C-17’s which were taking off already. Everyone was now moving to the C-5’s to get them unloaded. At the moment she had 8 Apache’s plus her own. All but 4 of the Attack Little Birds, and all the rest. She would have 4 Chinooks by nightfall. 12 Black Hawks. There was enough to do the job. She looked at the Colonel.

“We can go tonight. We have enough here.”

He nodded. “But the AWACS will not be here until early morning; the F-15’s will be here about the same time.”

“But it is at night and the Pakistani Air Force has very little night capability. Really they were just for comfort and back up. We did not really need them.”

He slowly nodded. “That part is your call. The sooner we go the happier I am; less chance for anything else to happen.”

“Do we destroy them or take them?”

“The original Idea was to take them then give them back; but now I think destroying them would be better.”

Liz sighed. “Fewer nukes are just about always a good thing; but if I remember correctly this is half the Pakistani arsenal. Would them having that many less make it more destabilizing?” 

He shrugged. Liz then went to the secure phone. “Need to talk to SOCOM.”

“Sir. We are looking to go tonight; I have enough here to do it. Question is destroy them or take them. And one other possibility. We just stay there and guard them. Until loyal Pakistani forces show up.”

She could tell the colonel was slack jawed at her last suggestion; but to her it might be for the best; she had no doubt they could get there, overwhelm the guards and destroy the warheads and be gone without much if any loss. But the consequences were huge. Taking them just as big. But just guarding them. Maybe not the most romantic or aggressive idea but maybe the best?

“Colonel, I will take this upstairs. Be ready to move tonight.”

Liz then got a call on her command satellite phone. 

“Parker.”

“Colonel, the last plane just took off for you. The entire Regiment is in the air.”

The MOD had been called and decided a news blackout was best. Just to make sure of it, roads to the area were quickly sealed off and all phone and cell phone utilities were blocked. The Media was shut down from talking about it. They did not know how long they could keep the lid on but they would do their best.

The next third would be landing in 4 hours. She would have all her Choppers except some Chinooks, she figured. Then she looked at the Colonel.

“We need to get more ground pounders if we are going to stay and guard.”

“I have three more teams that will be here in a few hours.’

“If we are going to guard we should have more. What is available at Kandahar?”

“No US combat forces. Not really sure what is there.”

Liz thought for a moment then called another number.  
“Group Captain; this is Colonel Parker. Does the UK have any combat troops in Kandahar?”

“We closed Bastion last year; we should have some there. I will check. I take it something is up?”

“VERY big and very quiet. Need to know ASAP.”

As it turned out the 2nd Scots were there. Liz looked at what she had. She could take 260 men right now; in a few hours she would be able to get the whole Battalion. She called SOCOM.

“Colonel Parker; the decision has not been made yet.”

“Understand sir. There is a battalion of the 2nd Scots at Kandahar. They would be useful.”

“Understood. I will get it started.”

Even as she shut it off another C-17 landed. They had managed to get the last Chinook out of the last C-5 as the next C-17 landed. In order to not have to disassemble too much, the front of the Chinook was raised up to lower the rear so that it would fit in the C-5. So it was awkward getting it out quickly, but they did it. Amazing what 30 men working together can do.

Lt Colonel Burns-Wilke read the message he had just received. The Commander of the 2nd Scots blinked then put it down. He looked at his XO.  
“Alert the men. Prepare for an operation. 3 days rations and ammunition. And have them ready in 2 hrs.”

Liz and Colonel Johnson were hard at work preparing; depending on the orders they got. Option A was to guard; Option B was to take; Option C was to destroy. Since clearly Option B was the hardest they worked on it first. The bunkers the bombs were kept in were earth covered concrete magazines with heavy steel doors. The Green Berets had all the necessary demolitions for blowing the doors off. Liz wondered if hitting it with a hellfire would work just as well; they were dubious and figured it would just mangle it to the point they would not be able to get it open and have to blow it anyway. The Bombs were kept in metal containers; but they were so heavy that there was no way they could manhandle them out. They were over 4000 lbs. And they were not big enough for the 20 men it would take to move it to get a grip on it. There were forklifts at the site but counting on one to work was just plain dumb. They might be on dollies that rolled but they could not say for sure. Liz finally looked at Colonel Johnson.   
“If they are not on dollies we destroy them.”

“I agree.” If they were on dollies they would either wheel them into waiting Chinooks or have them lifted out on slings.

So Option C was then worked on; much simpler. Demo charges placed on the containers would mangle the bombs to the point they would not work. 15 LB shaped charges would be used; they would almost cut the bombs in half. 

Option A was the best all around; but would Washington agree?

The meeting at the White House was heated. The arguments on both sides were passionate. One group wanted to destroy the bunkers with precision munitions. One group wanted to take them away. 

The Air Force Chief of Staff was blunt.  
“We would not have big enough bombs to ensure the demolition of the bunkers for another 24 hours. We need 4000 lb bombs and there are only some at Guam and in the US. The Aircraft would have to come from the US or go to Guam and pick them up. From the US would take 24 hours. Guam would take longer.”

That took care of destroying the bunkers from the air.

“They weigh 4000 lbs and are probably sitting on pallets. Unless they have a workable fork lift they are not getting them out of the bunkers- that cannot be done by hand. They might be on dollies but our information is that only on alert status is that done.”

The Chairman had felt from moment one that going in and destroying the bombs was the only real viable option. The rest were beginning to come to that realization.

“We do not have anything we can get quickly that can get them out of the bunker.”

At that moment SOCOM arrived. He had been listening by secure teleconference.   
“Colonel Parker suggests we just guard them. The Pakistani’s would have loyal troops there by tomorrow once they are told. We just surround the two sites and make sure no one gets close. That is a restricted area for miles around those sites so anyone that gets close is subject to immediate execution anyway. Anyone that shows up gets waxed. We wait and the Pakistani’s show up and it is over-quietly we hope.” 

That got them all talking.

The President had been quiet.  
“What would be the political and diplomatic fallout if we take or destroy those weapons?”

The Secretary of State responded.  
“Our relations with Pakistan would be critically damaged. For years to come.”

His Chief of Staff addressed the political side.  
“Probably not great here; but overseas? Probably not good.”

The President nodded.  
“We cannot risk one going off. So we either take them or destroy them or guard them. Taking or destroying them is better than letting one go off. But still bad. Guarding appears to be the one way to cause the least amount of fallout.”

They all realized the president had decided. The Air Force Chief of Staff had one thing to add.  
“Let us set in motion the mission to get the bombs there to destroy the bunkers. Better to have it and not need it.”

The President nodded. “See to it.” He then looked at SOCOM.  
“Colonel Parker and Colonel Johnson are to ensure that the bombs are not used. Guarding them is preferable; but only loyal Pakistani officers will be allowed around them. They are to be destroyed if there is any doubt.”

Liz and Colonel Johnson were happy with the decision; it was the best one as far as they could see. They would go with everything needed to destroy them, but only as a last resort. Moving them was discounted. Liz looked at her watch. It was 1600. There was about an hour left of daylight. Liz went out to see what was going on. 

All her Apaches were here. All her Little Birds of both types were here. All but 10 of her Black Hawks were here. And a third of her Chinooks were here. She had enough to haul the 2nd Scots. She nodded to herself. She looked at Colonel Johnson.  
“I will send my transport choppers to pick up the 2nd Scots now. They should be back by 1900. I say we launch the operation at midnight.”

He nodded. She got on the radio to divert the last aircraft to Kandahar. Soon the choppers started up and took off. Liz sat down and drank some water and gnawed on a MRE. She decided to catch some sleep and went to her Apache and curled up in it with the hatch down but not sealed. Rather surprisingly she quickly nodded off.

It took a little longer than she had thought, but by 1930 all the Choppers were back. Lt Colonel Burns-Wilke was the first off and he immediately was ushered to the command tent that had been erected. Colonel Johnson quickly briefed him on the operation; Liz came in, surprisingly feeling quite rested after her almost 3 hour nap. Colonel Burns-Wilke filled them in on his force.

“5 companies; left HQ behind. 743 men. 12 60 MM mortars and 6 81MM mortars; and some machine guns. We have 50 rds for each of the 60 MM and 30 rds for each of the 81 MM. Rations for 3 days. Also brought all the illumination rds we could get our hands on.”

They sat down and began to get to the details. It was decided to split the force in two with one company in reserve. 2 companies and 3 ‘A’ teams for each target. The mortars, ammunition, machine guns would go in the Chinooks. Detailed terrain maps showed several landing sites close to each storage bunker area. The two targets were North East and South west of Kuhzdar. The last company would hold back at an equal distance from both waiting to be called in.

“They go tonight; word might somehow leak if we wait. The infidels will know the wrath of Allah.”

The other nodded. “The one site we have been able to locate loyal followers. They will kill the unbelievers and seize the weapons. The other site is less likely to be a success. Therefore it will launch first.”

“When do they move?”

“When darkness falls they begin. The first group will attack at the best time; halfway between darkness and dawn; one hour after midnight. The second group will go in and be welcomed at two hours past midnight.”

“Allah be praised.”

“Allah be praised.”

They finished talking and planning at 2100. Decided to let everyone rest as much as they could before cranking up at 2330. Liz was feeling pretty good but curled up in her Apache and got another hour or so. Finally she woke up at 2300 and got out; most were already stirring but she went around making sure everyone was up; and started pre flighting her Apache. Trevor was her Copilot again. She walked around her bird; it looked good. They had full combat loads and full auxiliary tanks. 352nd SOG had come in and would be available to refuel. She looked around at the airfield; it was absolutely packed with Choppers and soldiers starting to get into them. The Chinook doors were open and the mortars and other heavy weapons were being loaded. She checked for messages; Jim let her know that he was with the last planes at Kandahar. They would unload and be ready by dawn. Liz debated this for a second; then decided that you never knew so she let it happen. He had 20 Black Hawks and 16 Chinooks. Almost enough to take another battalion. She had 30 Black Hawks and 8 Chinooks. The way it worked out they were almost balanced at transport ability.

2330 came and engines started. At 2345 they took off and began to form up. Liz after thinking about it hard decided to go with the reserve company; the Little Birds after a lot of thought were going to be left behind until the senior company commander came up with a plan; they had more Black Hawks then needed; put refueling tanks in 4 of them and refuel the Little Birds along the way. Liz finally agreed and 4 more Black Hawks were equipped as such at Kandahar and sent this way; they had landed right after 2230. They refueled their tanks and would go with the Little Birds. They left early at 2300 and headed out; the refueling spots for both groups were checked by satellite and shown to be empty. They were expected to join up with the main group right before the attack. Liz told them to move it – they would not wait.

Liz flew with the reserve company and they headed out a little faster in order to make the midway point first. Colonel Johnson went with the Southern group and his XO, Major Anderson, went with the Northern group. 12 Apaches would go with each group; senior captain in charge of the Northern group and Major Landon with the southern group. For the transport group one battalion commander took each. Little Birds had their Battalion commander in one and senior captain in the other. Liz had worked things for a while so that when commands were split everyone knew who commanded what.

Liz had her radio tuned into the regiment net that all the commanders were on; their copilots had the other net that the rest of the group was on. Liz had Trevor monitoring the command net in case something came up; they would be watching the satellites for any movement. At 0030, about 30 minutes out from the targets, Trevor called in to tell her to switch to command.

“VALKYRIE LEAD, to command.”

“This is Command; we have unidentified vehicles heading towards both targets; ETA 40 minutes. Strength appears to be 100+; probably higher.”

“Roger that. What direction are they coming from?”

“Northeast to South west for both.”

“Roger.” 

Now Liz had to think; if she sent her Apache’s ahead they could take out the forces coming. But what about the forces already there that maybe had not been spotted? And what if the guard unit had gone over?

“Valkyrie Lead to Little Bird lead. What is your ETA on Targets?”

“40 Minutes.”

Liz then called the two Apache forces; they could get there maybe 5 minutes earlier if they floored it. She shook her head. No they went in together. 

Liz then concentrated and then relaxed letting her thoughts go free. She began to get a feeling that the Southern group was the one to worry about. Over the years her feelings had never been wrong and now was not the time to second guess them. She called to the reserve commander.  
“Team 3, Valkyrie Lead heading south. Hang in there.”

“Roger.” No one argued when the Colonel made a choice; she was always right.

Liz floored it, pushing the Apache to its limit. She just knew things would get sticky there.

Colonel Al Harif looked around at his command group.  
“Are you ready to serve Allah?”  
“Allah be praised.”

“Kill them.”

Within 15 minutes every loyal Pakistani soldier was dead; there were 80 men in the detachment; 20 loyalists; loyal to Allah in their mind; killed the rest in a carefully planned attack. Now the brothers rushing to them would have a clear road to the weapons. This bunker was only 100 miles from Karachi; but it might as well be 1000. Loyal men had carefully sabotaged every helicopter at the army bases near the capital. No help would come soon. The only good road this way had been mined by those left behind in the column coming his way. The Colonel smiled; Allah be Praised.

A senior US army general made a call as directed by his president; the personal phone of a senior Pakistani General, commander of their Special Service Group. They had known each other very well over the years.  
“Zia, Al Qaeda is making an attempt to steal your nuclear weapons. The two bunkers nearest the capital. We have forces going there; they will hold until you get loyal men there.”

General Zia al Huf was alert and moving. “Can I contact the commander?”

“Here are the two satellite phone numbers; the first is the aviation Commander, Colonel Parker of the 161st SOAR; the second is the SF commander, Colonel Johnson, 5th Special Forces group.”

The General moved fast; he had very loyal men in charge of the Special Service Groups, the finest troops in the Pakistani Army. Night flying was not practiced all that often; but they had some specially designed to lead the rest.

The more northern Bunker’s Guard force Commander was a loyal officer; he had been very careful about who he had let into his unit. This loyalty was tested when one of his sergeants attempted to knife him; his deputy shot him dead. The Colonel quickly realized there was trouble and had his men manning their positions in 5 minutes.

The operatives had been careful; they had sabotaged the communications system; the two bunkers were cut off. Only the presidential line was intact.

Colonel Johnson had been informed about the column; they were only minutes away as they neared the bunker. The Apache’s moved to attack the column; the Attack Little Birds covered the landing of the Northern force.  
It took the Apaches only minutes to find the force; and literally seconds to blow up every vehicle. 12 Apaches can do a lot of damage and they proved it.

Colonel Burn-Wilke led his men; sent them to surround the bunker complex.

The Colonel from his command bunker saw the explosions in the near distance; then he got reports of troops surrounding the bunker complex. His regular communications were not getting through. Then the Red Phone rang.

The General had gotten to the President; who quickly called the Northern Bunker.

“Colonel, this is the President, Authentication code as follows.”

The Colonel verified the codes were correct. Was this war?

“Colonel. Al Qaeda is attempting to take our weapons. The Americans and British are surrounding your position. What is your situation?”

“Mr. President, one of my men attempted to kill me; we are on alert. There have been explosions to the North East. My men report we are surrounded.”

“The Americans have attacked them already. Hold your position Colonel. There are British troops all around you and American attack Helicopters in the air. Loyal members of the SSG will be there within hours to secure your position.”

“Understood, Mr. President.”

But their attempts to contact the southern bunker failed. The General looked at the President. They were both very grim. One was secure; but the other? 

Then an aide rushed up to the General.  
“Sir, all the helicopters here have been sabotaged; it will take us hours to repair them.”

“Send the closest unit there by truck as fast as possible.”

He looked at the president. “They have prepared all too well.”

There was nothing to say. He just nodded grimly.

Liz caught up to the Southern group and talked to the Major.  
“Valkyrie Lead to Team 1. Are you ready?”

“5 mikes.”

“Roger that.”

“Doberman to Axman.

“Axman to Doberman.”

“Axman, stay on plan.”

“Roger that.”

Liz then ordered the Blackhawks with the Special Forces unit to close up with her; the Attack Little Birds supported the Scots as they began to land.

Liz used her infrared scope to look at the complex. The vehicles had gone right in. No fighting.  
“Valkyrie Lead to All units; no resistance at site. FREE FIRE.”

They all acknowledged; Liz had just declared no friendlies on the ground. She then ordered the Axman to let go.

12 Apaches blew up the vehicles and then the buildings all around; rockets and Hellfires.

Liz, with 2 Blackhawks and an A team, headed for the bunkers ignoring the explosions and fire. Even with the explosions the expensive night sight for the 30mm gave her a clear view. She saw a group of men rushing towards the bunkers and she let go with her 30MM, shredding them; but two had run ahead and got the middle door open; that was the one with the bombs. They dashed inside closing the door.

“Team 1 get down there.”

The Blackhawks landed the SF; went down to 20 feet and they rappelled down. 

Liz lined up the closed door and let go a Hellfire. Then another; then a third; it seemed to be sagging; probably had holes in it. She fired a fourth, aiming low; it hit the bottom of the door and lifted it off the shattered hinges and it fell forward. The SF team dashed up to it and she saw them throw something in; probably a frag grenade. At least two of them. She could barely see explosions inside. Several of the team rushed in. She could do nothing other than wait. 

Seconds went by like hours.

Then out came a SF with a radio in his hand. She had switched to their frequency.

“Team one to Valkyrie Lead; items are secure.”

Liz almost sagged but pulled herself up; Trevor was yelling victory chants.

Liz took a deep breath and pulled the Apache higher.   
“Valkyrie Lead to command. Target 1 secure. No friendlies left on ground.”

“Command to Valkyrie Lead. Confirm target one secure.”

“Roger that command.”

In the White House there was quiet jubilation. Then they started to make calls. 

The General and the president waited. Not speaking. There were no words. Then the Generals satellite phone rang. He opened it.  
“General, Colonel Parker confirms the items are secured. The Guard Company partially mutinied and opened the doors for the raiders but all are dead.”

The General let out a deep breath and smiled at the President who sagged in his seat.  
“Thank You. I will now contact Colonel Parker.”

As long as she was stationary the satellite phone worked well; so Liz was not surprised when it rang.  
“Colonel Parker.”

“Colonel this is General Al Huf. I am here with the President. I have been told they are secure?”

“Yes Sir they are secure. I have two companies on the ground and a third on the way. In a few hours I will send some of my Apache’s to refuel but half of them will remain on site. The Scots have mortars and machine guns and are digging in. I believe the situation is stable.”

“That is very good to hear. Unfortunately those unwashed sabotaged our helicopters in the capital so your relief is some time off.”

Liz thought quickly. “General; my transport helicopters are capable of getting to Karachi and back with their current fuel; they can be there in less than an hour. They can pick up whoever you want and bring them here.”

“Hold on please.”

He looked at the president and quickly explained, and he nodded.

“Very good Colonel; send them to the army base just north of Karachi; you are aware of it?”

“They are sir. I can have enough there in an hour to transport two companies at least; in 2 hours they can take a Battalion. I can send for my reserves at Kandahar. They are two hours away. With them we can transport two battalions.”

The General thought quickly. “DO so. I will send a battalion to each site.”

“Understood sir, will start them now.”

“Very good Colonel.”

Liz called up and ordered the Little Birds back to the temporary base; and all others to Karachi. She then called Harkness and had them head towards Karachi as well.

The Scots had set up their mortars and were sending up Illumination rounds; Liz took off her night goggles and was able to see them digging in all around the bunker complex. She could see groups moving through the wreckage. She checked in with the Northern Group and it was secure. The Reserve Company had landed and was moving in to bolster the defense.

Liz then had two thirds of the Apache’s land and stay idling to conserve fuel. She stayed up with the rest. She looked at her watch; it was 0145. About 4 hours and a little more to dawn.

Liz had each of them spend an hour on the ground and then back up in the air she figured she could stretch the three hours they would have had anyway to 5.

Then the 352nd contacted her and informed her they were in the area; she sent off 4 right away; and over the next two hours got all hers and herself refueled; the Northern contingent was then refueled afterwards.

By 0330 she had refueled and was on the way back to the site. She got there at 0400 to hear that the first wave of the choppers with the SSG would be there by 0500. They would be getting to the northern site about half an hour later. The rest of the command had arrived in Karachi at 0400; they would make their drop-offs at about 0600.

It was all very anti climatic when the Pakistani SSG arrived; they got out and marched to the site; the SF team walked out and they walked in. The SSG moved down the line, replacing man for man the Brits in each position. The Brits shouldered arms and marched to the waiting Choppers. Since they had refueled in Karachi they could easily make it to Kandahar. In the northern site it was even more orderly. By 0800 everyone was either at Kandahar or just about there.

Liz was the last to leave, of course, but she floored her Apache and got to Kandahar by 0745. The C-130’s had picked up everyone left at the temp air field and had taken them to Kandahar as well. Liz landed her Apache with the rest; with things so quiet this part of Kandahar was vacant so they had plenty of room.

She got out and headed towards the operations room. There she found most of the pilots of her Regiment and Jim Harkness. He handed her a cold drink which she drank right down. Sighing then she looked at him.  
“OK. Let’s get everyone together for a debriefing.”

That took a little over an hour. Then Liz got a vehicle to take her to the Base HQ.

There she was greeted by the Base Commander who took her into the main comm center to the phone. She picked it up.

“Hold for the President.”

Liz blinked and straightened up.  
“Colonel Parker.”

“Mr. President.”

“First off congratulations on a successful mission. Second, what were our casualties?”

“A few minor wounds, mostly to the SF and Scots at the southern site, No serious ones and no one dead. No damage to any helicopters.”

“Remarkable Colonel. Congratulations once again. I am told you will be heading home tomorrow?”

“Yes sir. We pack up our choppers today, get a good night’s sleep, and get back tomorrow.”

“I will then let you get things done colonel. Very well done.”

“Thank You Mr. President.”

Liz hung up and sighed. She looked at the Base Commander. “How about quarters tonight for my people?”

“Already arranged Colonel. My XO will show you to yours.”

Liz followed the XO to the VIP quarters – rather lush. Liz went down to fetch her overnight bag which had been brought in with the items from the temporary field. She checked on how things were going; they were already starting to tear down the choppers; luckily they were being assisted by Base Personnel. She went to her quarters and showered and changed. Feeling better she went back to Operations. Nothing was going on so she told everyone that the day was theirs and to get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow morning they would be going home.

The news blackout in Scotland had finally been broken; the word was out that the whole 161st had suddenly taken off. The fact that the MOD had blocked all communications told everyone something big had happened; but they said no comment.

At the White House there was debate on how to handle all this. They decided to let the Pakistani’s say something if they wanted to. Otherwise it would be called a training exercise.

The President of Pakistan was meeting with leaders and his cabinet. They were debating what to do. Most wanted to just deny anything major had happened. The Americans and Brits had already agreed to say nothing. However some shrewd ones noted that speculation was already going on; the frantic activity had been noticed. People would talk. The sabotaged Helicopters could not be covered up; too many knew. Others said so what? It would all blow away soon enough.

At Kandahar several enterprising reporters had already spotted the 161st. That word got out; and when the word of how the MOD had sat on things people started putting two and two together. Rumors were that the Apaches of the 161st had fired a lot of ordnance. So it had been a mission, not training. But where? As the word got out people started sniffing around. Then a couple called friends who called friends and it was discovered that the 2nd Scots had been out with them. And had come back. Then someone mentioned Karachi and the army base outside had been pretty busy.

All that day speculation spread. Then the word about a lot of Pakistani helicopters suddenly under repair. Then that two battalions of the SSG had suddenly left. Then a report that the 161st transport Helicopters had been at the Army base.

Meanwhile Liz got something to eat and tried to relax. She called Max and the family and talked to all of them.

Fox News and other media began to think something big had happened. But no one was saying anything. Which meant it had to be really big.

“This is Fox news Tonight. Rumors of a secret military mission are spreading all over Washington and elsewhere. Here is what we know:  
“Approximately 36 hours ago the 161st SOAR in Raf Machrihanish, Scotland suddenly was transported to Kandahar Air Base in Afghanistan. Where they are apparently putting their helicopters back in the transports to go home. But information has come out that there was a combat mission involved; somewhere in Afghanistan. But no one knows where; there are no reports. Eyewitnesses reported that the Super Apaches of that Regiment had fired a lot of ammunition when they got back to Kandahar from wherever they were. Reports are that they were in the Pakistani Army base near Karachi, Pakistan. The transports taking the 161st did not land at Kandahar; at least most of them did not; and especially all their attack helicopters. We will continue to try and get this story.” 

The White House saw that eventually most of it would come out; but the real meat of it would not for a long time if ever. And they were content to let it lay.

Meanwhile in Karachi another debate was brewing. Evidence was mounting that the attempt had been supported heavily by factions in the ISI. IT was now certain that the sabotage to the Helicopters had been done by ISI agents. The evidence at the one site showed that the Colonel there had turned. And had a good number of his command with him and they had murdered the loyal soldiers. The Colonel and his family had close ties to the ISI.

The Justice Minister was firm.  
“It is time the ISI was brought down. We cannot wait any longer.”

There was very little support for the ISI in the room but they were all aware of the risks of taking that powerful organization down.

General Al Huf had returned from looking over both sites. He spoke next.  
“If we do this we have to justify it. The only way is to let it be known what almost happened and blame it on the ISI. Their support would disappear.”

“The humiliation…”

“What is worth leaving those in place that tried this once – so that they can try it again someday?”

The President looked at the General. He nodded. Then he went around the room; one by one they all nodded in the end. The shock of what almost happened was with them; it could not be allowed to happen again.

The President called for a special meeting of the Parliament in two days.

Liz and the rest of her Regiment had gotten back to Scotland and were taking a well-earned rest. SOCOM had told her that a Presidential Unit Citation was in the works, but it would have to be a silent one. She was fine with that.

The President began his speech just as the SSG hit the HQ of the ISI and other units hit every known supporter.

IT was broadcast live all over Pakistan. And of course elsewhere.

“People of Pakistan, we have been betrayed by those that were supposed to protect us. 3 days ago traitors allied with Al Qaeda attempted to steal some of the Nuclear Weapons meant to protect Pakistan to use for their own foul purposes. They murdered loyal Pakistani Soldiers. They were stopped by our friends and Allies from The United Kingdom and the United States. The traitors were primarily from the ISI. At this moment it is declared a rogue agency; all its files are to be seized and all its members will be detained and questioned.”

This sent shockwaves all over that part of the world. The Indian Prime minister held an emergency cabinet meeting.

“How did we not know about this?”

“There was information something had happened but we had not yet confirmed anything.”

“Well it is confirmed now.”

The President looked at his National Security Advisor.  
“Caught you by surprise as well.”

“Sir, no one expected they would admit what happened. But it is clear they are using it to destroy the ISI. This is a very good thing, Mr. President.”

That was agreed with almost universally. 

Liz watched the BBC coverage and sighed. Things would not be quiet for a while. It had not taken long for the media to connect the dots.  
“The MOD still refuses to comment; but it is clear that UK forces were involved with the operation. It is known that the American 161st SOAR in RAF Machrihanish deployed in an emergency manner. It is known that they were in Kandahar but most of the unit landed somewhere else and flew in there. It is known that the 2nd Scots left Kandahar on the 161st helicopters and came back. One can only deduce that they are the ones that protected the Pakistani nuclear weapons from being stolen by Al Qaeda.”

The President had quickly gone to Camp David and had escaped the media barrage. He called the British PM.  
“Well, what do you think?”

“I believe we will probably have to tell the whole story.”

“Probably. Clearly we need to make sure the ISI gets all the blame besides Al Qaeda.”

“Of course.”

“Could you talk with them and see how they want to do this? I am very surprised as are all my advisors that they took this step.”

“No more surprised than I and mine were. I will give them a call and see what is going on.” 

One nice thing about the base was that it was fenced in. So it was not hard to seal it off. Despite the mob of reporters outside its gate. 

That evening Liz sat on the sofa cuddling with Max. Then Aliya shrieked “MOM, look at this!”

“THIS” was pictures of the family down on the Riviera. The Sun. Liz in that string Bikini, Aliya in another; and Max and James playing on the beach. Liz groaned but Max just grinned.  
“Sexy.”

Liz did look very sexy. She was standing up peering over her sun glasses at Max. It was a very coy look; and she did look very hot.

“Hot on the Beach; and hot in the air” was the headline talking about her latest daring do then going over her whole career. And of course the fact that she was the first and still the only Knightress.

That photo spread around quickly. Liz just knew she was going to get a lot of heat about it.

The crackdown on the ISI went very quickly and quite well. The revulsion many felt about what almost happened stole what little support they might have had and many soon began to rat out the rest that had been able to hide. The SSG had been able to prevent most of the documents at the ISI headquarters from being destroyed and they proved a treasure trove; detailing just how corrupt and double dealing the ISI had been. Prominent political and financial figures were outed and the damage done to the secret intelligence establishment was immense.

The President had sent General Al Huf out to discuss the details of the night’s events. Parliament had demanded a full explanation and he gave it to them.

Some of the ultranationalist types tried to use this to attack the President for the humiliation; but the canny General turned that right back on them for supporting the ISI in the past. He was very forthright in his praise of the US and UK forces for quickly moving. And he pointed out to them that their worry about trusting anyone in the Pakistan Government had been proven very correct.  
“Now finally when someone has something of this importance to discuss, they can speak straight to us.”

The President finally made a brief statement that for once the intelligence community had gotten things right far enough ahead of time for them to act on it. And since this had been a Special Operations mission they did not give details. 

However the media wanted Colonel Parker to speak. The President simply said that she did not like to speak to the media and therefore she did not have to. Which left them very frustrated. He did throw them a crumb and announce that the 161st SOAR would receive a Presidential Unit Citation.

But the media pressure from all around the world continued to build. The White House was told they would have to give more. Finally it was decided to give the transcript of the radio communications. Which was very frustrating to some but fascinating to others. The DOD briefer was very helpful in translating the jargon. Then it was decided to release the actual tapes; the Super Apache recording all outgoing and incoming radio communications. It was digital and thus very clear. It was soon on You Tube.

Liz sighed again as she looked at her computer screen. There were her conversations during the mission for all to see and hear.

Her voice soon became very familiar. Liz had a quiet contralto that was very distinct. And how cool and calm she was was remarked on by many.

The DOD had informed the public that the informal title of the 161st was the Valkyries. Of course that was because of who their colonel was. Then it was mentioned that her call sign was Doberman. That got a lot of comments. Someone got a picture of her Apache with the artistic rendition of a Doberman with huge fangs and a very vicious look.

It was finally admitted that Liz had blown the door off of the bunker and that the SF discovered the Al Qaeda agents inside already dead; the heat from the plasma jet that came from the shaped charge warhead of a Hellfire had heated the relatively small area inside the bunker to the point that it had for all intents and purposes cooked them. It was beginning to be said that she deserved another medal for this. A second DSC was probably coming, according to the Talking Heads. She was already acknowledged as the most decorated military person since 9/11. 

Liz knew this was all going on but since she could not do anything about it she just started training her Regiment hard again. The mission had been good since it allowed her to gauge the units; they had all done well. She really did not have much to gripe about. So to make up for that she started doing war games; bringing in the officers and presenting them with different scenarios and then standing back to see what they would do. She started another crew competition to see who could service their chopper the fastest and still do it right.

The call from SOCOM was not exactly a surprise.  
“Colonel, the 161st will be awarded the Presidential Unit Citation. You will receive your second DSC. The President will be visiting England as part of a European tour in May so that is when they will be presented. The Pakistani government will be awarding you, your unit and the Scots and SF a commendation as well.”

After Liz hung up she sat in her office and thought about things. The medals and the commendations were nice; anyone who claimed they did not like being commended was either nuts or a liar. But she knew the clock was ticking on her days in command. This would be the last time she got to really command a unit; after this it would always be at least one step back; no more combat flying. Frankly not much flying at all. Sitting behind a desk. Her new career manager was an enthusiastic type; she was not yet sure enough to call him a used car salesman; not yet. He had told her that she would be going to Command School. Liz had to snicker at that: she had commanded a Company, Battalion and then a Brigade, twice actually. NOW they were sending her to command school. She knew it was a requirement before she got her first star. And there really was no doubt about that, he had told her. 

Liz got up and headed out to home. To see her family. As she walked along, acknowledging the salutes of her people as she passed them, she wondered if she really wanted a star. And almost certainly more would come. Was it worth it? All the BS she would have to put up with that so far she had been incredibly lucky to avoid? She pondered that as she went to her family.


	20. Stepping into the Big Leagues

“So, you think this will get through?

“The Navy is supporting it and cutting out one MEF will save a lot. So I think we can get this done.”

“You are not all that put out with losing an MEF?”

“Brutally speaking it was not needed. One for each area is enough in this day and age. One At Hawaii and one at Diego Garcia really will be enough. We have enough left in the states that can be sent by Aircraft elsewhere. Diego Garcia and Hawaii really does all we need. Bottom line is that having one on the gulf or Atlantic coast is just not logical anymore. And this way we keep the troops in the US until they are needed. Frankly that is why the Marines in Hawaii will go to Diego Garcia and the ones in the states go to Hawaii to pick up their ships if need be. The big dustups that the Marines might get into for the foreseeable future are all closer this way to our assets where they will be.”

“So you do not see anything in Europe or South America that you need to worry about?” 

“Nothing that the Army will not be all over first. Europe has always been solely army, and SA will now be. As regards Africa, not likely we ever go there in a big way with anything. The Middle East and everything there in that area is easily reached by the ships at Diego Garcia.”

“Unless the Suez canal is closed.”

“So what?”

“OK, I guess it does make sense.”

“Korea, China, Southwest Asia are the most likely big problems in the future. We are better placed to respond to all of that in this plan. In the old days everything in the Pacific or touching it was supposed to be the Marines responsibility anyway. Europe only got added during the cold war to beef up NORTHAG. Temporary thing.”

“OK. So that is how you are pushing this?”

“Did not have to push. Makes sense once it is explained. Not like the Army is interested anyway. As far as they are concerned only Korea is of interest to them. And there they have no problem sharing with us. Now moving from Okinawa to Hawaii will increase the response time for Korea significantly; so we are looking to keep the ships at Okinawa and just fly the personnel in.”

“Hawaii is expensive.”

“On Honolulu it is; not so at MCBH. We will have to expand that a fair amount but we have the room.”

“The other part is going to make noise.”

“Sure it will. But the case has been made and it is a good one. The mess with the F-35 B strengthens our hand.”

“Just what is happening there?”

“We are going with the minimal buy; in other words no more than the 120 B’s we are about to get.”

“And THAT is why you want the Super Apache’s.”

“The big squawk about helicopters was not the speed; that was always just diversion. Marines operate at short ranges; so the kind of speed a jet gives is just not that big a deal. The real key has been loiter time. And until the Super Apache Loiter time for an attack helicopter was not enough. It can hang around with a full combat load for 5 hours. THAT is the critical factor. Add to that the fact that it can also carry a combination of AMRAMM and SIDEWINDER so that it can pretty will defend itself; and the tests that we have run show that a Super Apache just hovering above the ground is virtually impossible for airborne radar to find. Even the AWACs has trouble if it stays below 30 feet. So they can ambush incoming fighters let alone bombers. So as far as protecting themselves and others they can get it done. Sure the Apache cannot carry bombs but realistically that is not a big factor anymore. Those new guided 2.75’s are also going to come in handy.”

“I heard that they got Doberman to try them out and she loved them.”

“Yeah. There were 42 separate targets and 42 rockets and she hit 38 of the targets and the others were near misses. And she did it in 60 seconds.”

“I had not heard it was that impressive.”

“One has to step back and remember just how good she is. So the odds are most of the other pilots will not do that well. But still it was something to see. The 2.75 carries a nice warhead. And they can tailor the mix in so many different ways. The Super Apache was built with that capability in mind; so it is just a matter of quick installation to use them. Bottom line is that the Super Apache can give us all the real ground support we need, take care of itself and the area it is in, and is going to be a lot cheaper than the F-35B. Really by now half the price.” 

“And they work.”

“And they work NOW better than the F35B NOW and frankly probably in the future.”

The call to test the new guided 2.75’s was a bit of a surprise but Liz did not mind. The Super Apache had been built with that system in mind; and when in 2014 it began to get fielded it was just a matter of time before the SOAR’s would get them. She was curious about it; all too often contractors made extravagant claims that upon testing tended to shrivel. But the capability to hit targets accurately with the 2.75’s was very attractive. What had been the holdup was how the targeting system would work. Infrared was just too easily fooled, spoofed or confused; even with the most modern types. Laser guided meant keeping the designator on the target which means stationary for the platform which is not advisable in a combat area. Radar guide means locking in which takes time no matter what. Then someone had mentioned how small TV cameras and transmitters had gotten. From what Liz gathered, that is when things really took off. The ability to quickly lock the camera on the target then fire was what got it done. Her helmet targeting system allowed her to put the cross hairs on the target and it would lock on immediately. She then can choose which warhead to use if she wanted. HE, Fragmentation, HEAT, WP. Or if unitary loaded just keep firing. She was rather proud of her score considering she only had one training mission before doing it for the show.

She had had her Apache loaded on the C-17, took her crew and copilot, and had gone to Aberdeen where she had one day to get ready and the next to fire. So she was quite pleased with herself. Only a month after the Pakistan operation it was still hard for her to go anywhere without being recognized in Uniform. And even on the bases it was not comfortable. The release of the transcripts and more to the point the audio parts had really fixated interest on her.

“Liz, maybe you should sort of step back and listen without putting yourself there. Try and listen like it is someone else. Then you might get the idea why it gets to so many. You are so cool; calm, matter of fact. Like someone talking about the weather happening somewhere else. You are directing an operation to prevent nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists; and at the moment some might be in that bunker trying to set one off. No one would know that listening to you.”

That had come from Maria when she had talked to her not long after.

Unknown to her, most of her close friends had thought the same. In a strange sort of coincidence the Posse and Crew had ended up around Nashville in their post military lives. So naturally they got together at least once a month. Only a week after it got out they had gathered Shelby Park. While it was not all that warm, it was warmer than usual at almost 60 and sunny, so it was a nice day for the first week in February. The Crew were pilots for a tourist company, while most of the rest of them were working for a defense contractor who was working on advanced body armor and had hired a number of combat veterans to help figure it out. Needless to say the main topic of conversation was the event.

“I have known Liz for years yet hearing her like that in combat was just surreal. So cool; calm, almost matter of fact even though she might be looking at the opening event of WW3.” This from Ruth.

Ellen sighed. “What you heard is what we heard during our time with her. Like someone ordering a pizza to go.”

Jesse nodded. “I would have been surprised if she had been any other way.”

“When she gave the orders to open fire-just like a wife telling a husband to take out the garbage.” This from Susan. 

“I keep wondering what she is going to do to top something; then this happens.” From Vicki.

“I guess one should say how is she going to top this but I better keep quiet; she probably will.” Came from Ellen.

Liz was glad to know that they were going to start getting the new guided 2.75” rockets; they could come in very handy. But she had an idea something else was going on; there had been a number of Navy and Marine corps high-up’s there. So she asked Jim to sniff around.

A week later he came in to see her. She could tell he was bursting.  
“OK, Jim, before you pop, let it out.”

“You asked me to find out why all the squids and jarheads were interested in that 2.75 demonstration. You are right that it was not important enough for them to be there. Just got word from someone I know pretty well; they were much more interested in seeing you and the Super Apache perform then just the rockets. That ties in with something else I heard; that the Marines are willing to drop one of their MEF’s.”

That made Liz’s eyebrows go right up. For years the Marines had fought tooth and nail to keep all three MEF’s. For them to just give one up was very interesting. Even with the cuts in the budget that had not been something that was pushed hard enough to go through. For them to voluntarily give it up meant they were trading it for something else.

Jim went on. “They are going to stand down the MEF that was based out of North Carolina. Okinawa will go to Hawaii. Pendleton will go to Diego Garcia. Basically they think they do not need one on the East coast or for Europe; and it makes sense from the long view. And they really do not mind downsizing some; they can spread it over a period of years and do it by attrition. But one problem they have had was the whole F-35B mess.”

Liz winced. The F-35B was supposed to be the VTOL and STOL version of the F-35; Liz had always wondered why anyone thought that was a good idea. They should have just upgraded the Harrier instead of wasting all that money trying to make the F-35 do everything. The F-35A was the successor to the F-16; and the F-35B was to be the successor to the Harrier. The F-35C was supposed to be the successor to the F-18. No one was really surprised at all the problems that came up. The Marines had got 120 of the 340 F-35B’s but were not going to get the rest under the current budget crunch and frankly did not want them. So they were going to keep them; but would be using them to replace their F-18’s. Not the Harriers as originally thought. This tied in with their wish to fully separate themselves from needing the Fleet Carriers around at all. The F-35B’s could operate from any good sized ship technically; though realistically not due to the support requirements. That was when the light dawned; what they wanted to use to replace the Harriers. She looked at Jim who was grinning.

“So they are now after Super Apache’s to take the place of the Harriers.”

“Makes sense. We can hang around longer than the Harriers can and need less overall maintenance. Smaller logistical footprint. And we are cheaper than more F-35B’s by almost half. We cannot drop bombs but they really do not need that and admit it; they want accurate close up support. Nothing is better than a Super Apache at that. Now with the guided 2.75’s we can really get it done. They will still use their AH-1Z’s for direct support to each battalion; but we can do so much more. And with our capability to use both Sidewinders and AMMRAMS, we have a significant air to air capability. You heard about those exercises?”

Liz nodded. Putting Super Apache’s low above the ground at under 30 feet meant that even AWACS could not spot them; let alone airborne radar in a regular fighter. So you could stay in the weeds and ambush an incoming attack before they even knew they were being targeted. So there was nothing outside of dropping bombs that the Super Apache could not do that the Harriers did. They were nowhere near as fast but realistically what did that matter for Marines?

“So more Super Apaches are going to be built.”

“Looks that way. They will save billions letting that MEF go; so they can put it into the Super Apache’s.”

SOCOM was getting this from a somewhat higher source.

“This has been kicked around for a while. They have kept the various subcontractors going on a slow basis for spare parts; they actually have enough to build about 30 more right now. So they can get the 96 they want for the two MEF’s; giving them two of their squadrons (each squadron is like one of our battalions) for each MEF. But I can bet you know where this is going.”

“They will want the SOAR to train them.”

“The Marines have very specifically requested Colonel Parker to train them.”

“I guess one should not be surprised.”

“This has been in the works for about a year.”

“Hmm. Just about the time that people began to recognize what a Super Apache could do.”

“Since it came to my attention about the same time, you can bet they were talking to each other about if for months before that.”

“So they are going to want to detach Colonel Parker for that.”

“Cannot fault their logic. She also made a name for herself as training officer for the 160th. They are still trying to find someone good as she was two years later.”

SOCOM winced a little at that. He had indeed been forced to relieve the 160th commander; and one of the problems had been that he was not pushing training like he should have been. Though to be fair, finding a training officer as good as Parker had proven to be very difficult indeed. They were still using her plans but the extra gift she had for getting them done no one had been able to duplicate. Luckily he had been able to keep his previous Aviation chief there and they were training up a new commander that looked promising. But the training officer had been more difficult to replace. As a matter of fact his Aviation chief had had a meeting with him just the day before.

“So how goes the slumming?”

“Funny. Frankly being back in command of a unit sounded better before I did it. Forgot about all the BS you have to put up with. And the paperwork. On the other hand it beats sitting behind a desk just worrying about the next meeting.”

“How is the training situation?”

There was a very definite pause there. “Not bad.”

SOCOM looked at him and just waited.

“OK. Not great at all. Barely adequate. No matter who I seem to try, no one has the gift she had. She really trained everyone up to a degree I did not realize.”

“She is that much better?”

“Yes.”

Remembering the conversation SOCOM looked at the Chairman.  
“They still miss her there as a trainer as well. Still has not been adequately replaced.”

“Amazing. But then she is as gifted a pilot as she is a leader; so maybe it is not so surprising. But to be that good at training as well is extremely rare.”

“It all adds up when you look at it. She is superb at rebuilding units or remaking them; so being a great training officer is no surprise; she has the combat experience to go with the gift of being able to understand what it takes to get people ready for combat. And that is rare as we are finding out.”

“So you are going to have to detach her for a time.”

SOCOM was thinking furiously on this. He looked at the Chairman.  
“But we have no one to take her place at the 161st. Her XO is strictly admin.”

The Chairman nodded. “And there is the rub. I was going to point that out but I wanted to be sure I was right. We definitely need to start thinking about her replacement anyway; she is going right up the ladder now. Command School then her star; and there is going to be a knife fight for her services.”

SOCOM sighed. “Those positions are just about the toughest around to fill as they are truly unique. I admit I did not realize it until the last year or so.”

“Which is another reason the Alternate Promotion board is gaining steadily in importance. Basically positions like those are not going to really be filled by normal officers. You need the unique and the maverick for those areas; the very things that over the last 20 years the regular military has tried to stamp out using all the cookie cutter requirements for promotion. Which is coming back to bite their asses big time. Hardly a week goes by without someone in the media or congress or the like talking about the nameless faceless so called leaders of our military.”

SOCOM mused. “We have been very lucky here in SOCOM because we are insulated from all that.”

“Because until USCOCOM was created you were small potatoes; not worth worrying about. You saw over the last 20 years that once they recognized how much influence was coming here they tried to start horning in.”

“True. It was only because we got the support of presidents and SECDEFS plus congress that we resisted straight legs being sent here to command positions. It was a very slick deal that got through congress that made it a requirement to have had Special Forces or Special Operations experience to be a SOCOM commander.”

“I can still remember when someone pointed that out as regards trying to slip one in back in 2008 and it was pointed out that it was not allowed. The impact on the cookie cutters was fun to see. Not even a deputy is allowed.”

SOCOM grinned at that then sobered. “Still does not help my problem; I cannot have her gone from her command for 6 months; even if she is here in Campbell that does not let her keep an eye on her command; or keep it tight and ready. Sure she can fly back quickly but that is nowhere near good enough. We do NOT have anyone that is ready to backstop her.”

The Chairman nodded. “I thought not. So obviously the answer is to send the Marines there. They would like to train over water anyway.”

“That would make it kind of crowded. Though I guess they could manage one Squadron at a time.”

“That might work. Send the 160th Apache’s over there to train as well. They need it from what I hear.”

SOCOM winced again. It had been just over a year and a half since Parker had stopped training the 160th; and their edge had dulled significantly. Just how significantly had been demonstrated just a month ago when the Apache Battalion had been put through a no notice inspection and had been sent up to maneuver and fire at moving targets. They had not failed, but it had not been a good performance. Which was another reason his acting chief had not been happy about things.

Not long after the chairman left SOCOM decided to visit Campbell. He found the acting Chief going over performance evaluations. Since he had not told anyone he was coming it was not surprising people were scrambling as he came through the door.

“Sir. I take it something is going on?”

He nodded and closed the door of the office behind him. Then filled him in on the situation. The SOCOM Aviation Chief and acting commander, 160th SOAR sighed.  
“Got to give the Marines credit for being smart. As slick a piece of horse trading as I have seen for a while. No doubt they will have the clout to have Parker detached TDY to train them; which leaves us really with a short load. Jim Harkness is a very good admin man but there is no way he can lead them in combat.”

“The Chairman has suggested they send one Squadron at a time to her to train. It will be a tight fit but possible.”

He relaxed at that. “OK, now I can get off the chair and take the noose off of my neck.”

SOCOM grinned. “Thought that would help. But he did mention how the Super Apaches of the 160th did not look so good. I guess it is not surprising the word got out.”

“Yeah. If anything was needed to ram home the need to have a top training officer that did it. And it is my fault since I am in command.”

“You have only been there 3 months; and have been busy trying to get a permanent replacement. So don’t beat yourself up too much.”

He looked at SOCOM and nodded. “Thanks, Boss. But that does not help my problem; because unless I am very wrong and I do not think I am, the rest of the Regiment might not be in much better shape.”

SOCOM was not that surprised. “Well we have a real problem. The only officer that we both know can shape things up as they need to be cannot be taken away from her current command. Yet we badly need the Regiment back to where it belongs. We have been very lucky in the last year; outside of some of the Little Birds we have not deployed anyone. And the training exercises have been too vanilla as we now know.”

“Well then we are going to have to rotate everyone through Scotland then. One month with her will shape up any unit if it is any good.”

“And if it is not then you have a bigger problem than just not the right training.” 

“True. Well let’s pull her over here to talk to her. Any idea when the Marines are going to start standing up their first Squadron?”

“The contractor has the parts to make at least 30 of them but it will take at least a couple months to do that; then probably 4 or so a month after that.”

“So a year and a half. The Marines train their aviators pretty hard; not as hard as we do but not far off.”

“So we need to talk to Colonel Parker.”

Liz looked at Jim. “Have no idea what this is about. But I bet part of it has to do with what you found out. The upcoming training exercises with the Poles and Austrians are going to be pretty much what we did last year. So nothing new there. So you just have to follow the pattern.”

“We are getting requests for another big one sometime this summer.”

“Well I can talk to SOCOM about that; our training budget is fine for everything else we are planning but not a big one like that. The Spanish want us over for another one soon as well; plus the Italians. Just glad that they sent the 101st over to Kuwait for three months; that will take care of the Middle East.”

The 101st Aviation Brigade (part of it) had been sent to Kuwait to help train up the Gulf allies; since this was working with regular forces it had been decided that regular brigades would do fine. That was no problem for Liz; they had more than they wanted or needed already in that area of operations. The Pakistani’s had requested a mission; and there was a chance they would get pulled in to do a mission with India as well, even though that was the 160th’s area. Being even handed with the Indians had become of greater importance over the last few years; considering how much they had worked with the Pakistani’s on things.

The Group Captain had been promoted to Air Vice Marshal, but was basically doing the same job. He was very good at it and unlike the US Military if the UK found someone doing a job very well they tended to leave him alone. He was now more than ever becoming the defacto first contact for any training missions with any other country no matter what the service due to his extensive contacts. 

He was once again getting pushed for more training missions; the defense budget was still very tight; and not likely to ease much for at least another year. The demise of the EU and the Euro had actually helped the UK; they were in much better shape to whether the storm. Things were still sorting themselves out but the dire predictions of the Euro fanatics had proven as pretty much everything else they had ever predicted wrong. The countries of Europe actually were doing better than anyone had thought. The austere budgets had made a big difference; the cutting of bureaucrats and the slackers had invigorated industry; the onerous burden the Brussels machine had inflicted on them was gone. But it would take a few years to really become prosperous; though now that seemed much more likely. The Defense budget was not going to be cut anymore, which was a victory; but it would not expand all that much for at least another year. So units needed training but had no money. A problem all over western Europe except for France and Germany; the kicking out of the unemployed immigrants had eased the burden in France considerably; and the new young President was showing a real gift for getting things done. The retirement age had been brought up to 65; and the workweek was back to 40. The shock of the events of the previous year had awakened the old fighting spirit of France that had been dormant far too long. And Germany had brought the Mark back to become one of the strongest currencies in the World. Eastern Europe had done quite well; not being formally part of the Euro zone had definitely worked to their advantage and they were all doing better than Western Europe.

The three weak sisters; Netherlands, Denmark and Belgium were still recovering slowly. They had gone down the rabbit hole of cradle to grave farther than any other countries and they paid the highest price for that. Portugal was ok, Spain was improving; Italy had seemed to turn the corner. Austria and Switzerland had also been more or less immune. Finland and Sweden and Norway were lagging but doing better.

The new Air Vice Marshal looked at his aide. “I take it that the requests are increasing?”

“Yes, sir. Everyone is looking for another big exercise to point for.”

“Well there is not money in the budget for this year; but I have gotten solid word that we will be in better shape next year.”

“Well then, what about this year?”

The Air Vice Marshal sighed. “I will have to see what I can do.”

He was reluctant to contact Colonel Parker; she had done more than her share to help last year. Virtually every regiment in the British Army had trained with her; that had been very helpful indeed. But he was very well aware that they could not keep putting off training. That could have deadly consequences in combat; and despite what many seemed to think the world had not become peaceful overnight. True it was calmer now than it had been in over 20 years, but only a Pollyanna thought it would continue. He was virtually certain that something would come up before long somewhere. Russia was starting to wake up after its bloodbath with its Mafia; and some of the former Russian republics were not the most stable. Iran was seemingly forever a worry. One could not forget Korea either. China was just now emerging from its massive disaster of the collapse of the Three Gorges Dam; and it was now having to spend more than ever to get pollution under control. But it was just a matter of time before it began to flex its muscles again. So this respite would not last long. The UK military had to be ready to shoulder its share of the burden. But they could not do that if they were not ready. Then he was unexpectedly called into a meeting with the Defense Secretary.

“Air Vice Marshal, we have just been informed of some major changes in the US Marines and that some of the effects of that will come this way. They are sacrificing one of their MEF’s to gain something else. 4 full squadrons of Super Apache’s. They intend to have them trained with your friend Colonel Parker in Scotland. They are coming over for a meeting tomorrow.” 

Liz got into DC only one hour after her 0800 departure according to the clock; but then when your flight only takes 6 hours and the time change gives back 5 that is what happens. She was lucky in that she was able to catch some sleep anyway. The fact that this meeting was in the Pentagon not with SOCOM at Campbell told her that it was something out of the ordinary; and that her meeting with SOCOM would almost certainly be just the first one. She went right from Andrews to the Pentagon and met SOCOM in his office there at 1000. Another hint had been that she was wearing class A’s. Which meant big brass time. She deliberately wore her BDU’s then changed just before going to his office.

The ceremony in Scotland scheduled for May for the 161st to get a Presidential Unit Citation and her to get her second DSC was going to be a very large affair and Liz was not looking forward to it. Her ribbons were going to get more additions. She had to admit it looked pretty impressive. So she was thinking when she went in the office SOCOM had when he was at the Pentagon. She was ushered right in and sat in front of his desk.

“I am willing to bet you have no idea why you are here.”

Liz grinned. “If rumors have anything true to them, it has to be about me training the Marines to fly the Super Apache they are gunning for.”

“That is only part of it. There is a lot more besides that. What have you heard about the Marines?”

“They are looking to dump their Harriers and replace them with Super Apache’s; two of their squadrons which are the same as our battalions for each of the two MEF’s they want to keep; they are sacrificing their third MEF to get them.”

SOCOM nodded, not really surprised. “SO you pretty much guessed you would be designated as the training officer for them?”

Liz sighed. “That is what I figured. I was just worried about six months away from my command.”

“Well the good news is that you are not going to them, they are coming to you one squadron at a time. The first one will be standing up in June. They have the parts to assemble the necessary number and will have them up and going in April. That is when they will probably start heading your way. The Marines started picking and choosing the pilots then stopped. Guess what?”

“You have got to be kidding.”

“Nope. You get to do it. Basically you get to run them through the mill first and then decide which ones are good enough then train them.”

Liz blinked and then shook her head. “This is bizarre.”

SOCOM then got serious. “No it is not. You are by far the most respected Apache Driver, let alone Super Apache driver around. It is just common sense on their part. But that is not all of it either.”

Liz sighed and waited for the rest of the load to fall on her.

“You might not be aware that only a few weeks ago the acting 160th commander threw a no notice exercise at the Apache Battalion. They did not do well.”

Liz shrugged. “So they come as well.”

He grinned evilly. “That is still not all of it.”

Liz closed her eyes then opened them. “What else is there?”

“The entire 160th will be coming over a battalion at a time to train. Since they have been unable to come up with a training officer good enough, you will be doing it all.”

“Shit.”

One hour Later Liz followed SOCOM and the Aviation cum 160th chief who had just arrived to the main briefing room of the Secretary of Defense. Liz went to sit beside SOCOM with the Aviation Chief on her other side. The rest of the Joint Chiefs of Staff came in then all rose when SECDEF walked in. As they all took their seats Liz noticed that she was the only one in the room under the rank of general sitting at the table. All the aides and such were on chairs behind their chiefs.

SECDEF looked around and nodded. “Good. Everyone is here. This special meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will now come to order. Chairman, you may proceed.”

“Yes Sir. To be brief, major changes were just approved by agreement with Congress and the White House. The Marines will be sacrificing a MEF; the one in Okinawa will be going to Hawaii; their ships will remain at Okinawa; that agreement was just reached with Japan. The California stationed MEF will go to Diego Garcia. The North Carolina MEF will be stood down. Attrition will take care of the excess personnel in two years. Those officers not needed will also be let go. The Marines have requested that the SAH-64 Super Apache be substituted for the F-35B originally meant to replace the Harrier. That has been approved. They will get 96; the price will be half of what the same number of F-35B’s would have cost. The savings from the stand down of the MEF will cover all costs of these changes. Including the extra construction needed in Hawaii and in Diego Garcia.”

Liz looked around the room. She wondered why a meeting was needed for this.

“Due to some problems with the 160th, the training of the Marine Super Apache Squadrons will now be the responsibility of the 161st. Also the fleet units operating with the Super Apache’s will also train with them there. An agreement to temporarily station them at Glasgow during the approximate year and a half it will take to train all units has been reached with the UK MOD. They will also train with units of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. Plus other units of the British Army. When we had our meeting with the MOD, they made a counter proposal when we informed them of our training plans. And after some discussion it was agreed to. This is the result.”

Liz did not move as she considered the situation. Well she was not going to have to ask for more funds to train with the Brits; it was coming anyway. Along with just about the rest of the world. No one could not say she was going to be busy.

“That concludes the meeting. I would ask that SOCOM, the Commandant and the Chief of Naval Operations join me in my office.”

The Aviation Chief and Liz followed SOCOM as he went to the SECDEF’s office just down the hall. There was a meeting room just off of his office that they sat in. Liz was a little curious; she had only been in the Pentagon once before and never in the rarified atmosphere of the SECDEF’s part.

He sat down and looked around.  
“I wanted to make sure that there were no high level questions. This was very quickly arranged. Even by Colonel Parker’s standards.”

This got smiles all around; Liz was used to needling about the Cyprus exercise.

“Admiral Williams, since we wish to move quickly, what ships are you looking at using for these training exercises?”

“All 6 of the WASP class; and both America Class. We will be spreading out the Apache’s so that we have half a squadron aboard every active ship. Sir, it has been discussed that the Super Apache squadrons be reduced from 24 to 12; that would allow one Squadron per ship.”

SECDEF looked at the Commandant. “Your views, General Sampson?”

“Our aviation people are flexible about squadron size; and it does make sense. I see no reason we cannot go that route.”

“How many ships at a time?”

“Sir we would prefer to go two at a time.”

“That should work.”

He then looked at SOCOM.  
“I assume you filled Colonel Parker in on this?”

“Yes sir.”

He then looked at the Commandant.

“The proposal as regards the pilots was a little out of the ordinary, General.”

“Sir, it makes sense. This is an extremely sophisticated helicopter; much more than the latest Huey. I have no doubt that some will have trouble making the transition. We want to be up and running for at least one MEF in less than a year. The Harriers are just plain worn out; operational percentage is hovering at 75% despite all we can do. We do not have the time to bring the pilots along slowly. I have no doubt from her previous record that Colonel Parker can quickly weed them out. It is not like we do not have the volunteers; we already have two for each slot and more will come.” He looked at Liz.

“Colonel, every pilot you get will have at least one year operational experience. No new nuggets. So if they cannot cut the mustard cut them.”

Liz nodded. “Yes sir. My decision will be final?”

“Absolutely.”

“I should have them capable in 90 days for each squadron- if you go for the 12 per squadron.”

The other people in the room blinked at that. SOCOM looked at Liz. “You already have a training plan in mind?”

“Yes sir. I got information about this possibility about this a week ago; and began working on a plan. Figuring that the Marines would be using their Wasp and America Classes, I took a look at their specs. Knowing that the Marines wanted not only close ground support but an anti-air capability, I will use our own training program for that. We will give them at least 30 days flying before they will attempt any ship operations. We will be doing a fair amount of that over the water anyway; I believe 30 days will be enough for them to get used to flying from a ship; it will not be like regular carrier operations with catapults and hook wires. Much simpler. It will be good trying them in the waters of the Irish Sea; it will be calm most of the time; when they get more experience we can take them north for tougher waters. I hope that their ground crews will be brought in soon; they can learn from mine then learn to do it on ships. Their graduation exercises will be to go up against my Apache’s. I see no reason that 90 days cannot get it done with already experienced pilots.”

Everyone in the room was impressed by this. SECDEF slowly nodded

“Very well then. No one here will argue with that kind of timeline. The word from the assembly plant is that they will have the first 24 ready to go this coming month; so they can be sent straight to Scotland.” He looked at the Commandant.

“How soon can you have the first batch of pilot candidates there?”

“I see no reason we cannot have them there at the same time.”

SECDEF looked at the Navy CNO. “That would mean that early in April they would need the first ships there.”

“Sir, as long as the ports are ready the ships will be there.”

“I see I will have to have a word with the MOD. I doubt they expected us to move this fast.” He looked at the rest of them. “Well this went faster than I expected. But that is good. Any questions or comments?” Liz raised her hand. “Yes Colonel?”

She looked at the Commandant. “Sir, I would ask that all prospective pilots first pick up copies of the manual on the Apache; and can bone up on the flight systems and the cockpit. I want them familiar with that end of it when they arrive; I intend to have them up each personally to try them out before I approve them for further training.”

The Commandant raised his eyebrows. “You intend to make it sink or swim?”

“Not quite sir; but I will be riding with them. I can usually tell pretty quickly if someone is going to make it or not.”

“Then it will be as you requested.”

They left the building and got in the limo to head to Andrews. Liz had requested they send her right back the same day. 

Liz got back at just before 2000 that night and was exhausted; she had spent the whole flight back refining her ideas about training the Marines. As soon as the jet landed she went right to her quarters and Max was waiting for her with a nicely cooked meal which she proceeded to devour. The she sat with him for a while decompressing. Max being Max, realized that she just needed to be held and did just that. After a while she just tugged him to bed and once again he just held her.  
“I can guess you got thrown another big fat challenge.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Just how bad is it?”

“I get to train 8 Marine Squadrons of Super Apache’s; and the 160th is coming one by one to train here; and there will be ships coming as well for the Marines to fly off of once I choose the ones that will complete the training.”

“Sorry I asked.”

The double jet lag then caught up to Liz and she conked out.

Max made sure the alarm was off and called the office to let them know that Liz would be a little late.

Liz slowly surfaced and blinked; she was alone in bed; but she could tell that it was light outside. She looked at the alarm clock and saw that it said 0845. She sank back realizing that Max must have turned it off. She had slept almost 11 hours. Taking a deep breath and moving slowly she got out of bed and hit the shower. She shuffled off to the kitchen and slowly got some coffee going. She took her time since she had not told the office she would be back until today anyway. She did not get into the office until 1000. Once there she called a meeting of her Battalion commanders. They were in there by 1030, knowing something was up. She went to the conference room where her 5 Battalion Commanders and Jim Harkness waited for her.  
“OK, people, if you thought we were busy before you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

She then outlined what would be happening. They stared back at her in shock. A fully rested Liz was more amused by the situation then put out.

“Cheer up people, the good news is that for the next year and a half for all intents and purposes the sky is the limit as regards training costs. The money the Marines are saving will pay for everything. Those extra billets we were considering; well now we can build them. We will contact the company we had discussions with and have them start building immediately. The designs will be the same as what was already built, so there is no reason that in 90 days a new block cannot be up. That will house an extra 200 people and that will be about what we will need. That large training exercise we were looking at this summer will be covered; I think we should gun for September. We will be done with the 160th and hopefully the first two squadrons of the Marines at least; depending on how fast they send them to us. One thing: for the time being we are going to have to double up our bachelor enlisted and officers to free up enough space for all our visitors. Once the new block is done we will return to normal.”

After leaving them to adjust to things Liz headed for her office; she knew that the Air Vice Marshal, her old friend the Group Captain, would be coming by. The Base was technically a RAF base and had a RAF Wing Commander who was the official liaison with the MOD, in theory running the base. In practice he played a lot of golf and had his small staff take care of the inevitable paperwork. So she was not surprised to find the Air Vice Marshal waiting for her.  
“Well, did you get the full word?”

“I think I got all they knew; but since I know you just got back from the Pentagon you probably already have seen the changes we will not hear about for a while.”

“True. In addition to the Marines they are sending one battalion of the 160th over hear each month to train them up.”

He raised an eyebrow at that. She shrugged. He nodded.   
“You mentioned a major training exercise this summer before you left. How has this changed things?”

“Well, we will have to move it back to September; but other than that nothing changes. Until the Marines are done I have a virtually unlimited training budget. The SECDEF specifically mentioned training with the SAS, Commandos, Para’s, Royal Marines and ‘assorted regiments’. Frankly I was thinking of pushing this to the limit and talking the Navy into sending some of the ships to the Med and doing another biggie in Cyprus and Turkey. Next month before the Marines and everyone else in the world comes rolling in we will get the Polish and Austrian training missions out of way. I have been kicking around the idea of talking to the Spanish about a big exercise there as a kind of Graduation ceremony for the first Marine Squadron. Depending on how many they are willing to put up with we could bring a fair number of British units to that operation as well. As a matter of fact if the Poles are willing we could bring some to that party as well. Then that big one in Cyprus and Turkey; and of course the Greeks want one too so we could rope them all in for a whole month of sun and fun.”

The Air Vice Marshal contemplated this. That would satisfy all needs for certain for this year. That would be a massive operation down in the Aegean and around Cyprus, but using ships would actually make moving around easier. Certainly would be different even compared to the last years operation.

“Seems ambitious but I have learned that you thrive on that sort of thing. I will ask around and see what each thinks of this. I know the Spanish would be happy to have you back; the Poles as well. Since you can now transport almost two battalions at a time, and maybe bring some in by transport, the Poles if they are willing could have a very big party indeed.” 

Liz nodded. “Will get with them right away; I have about 30 days before things go nuts; so let’s see if we can get that done before then. After the Marines get here; and the 160th; it will be hard to get away for anything else. April thru August we are going to be run ragged.”

Liz called up her contact with the Poles and was transferred right away to General Sosabowski.   
“Colonel Parker. Good to hear from you. I take it you wish to make the plans for this year’s exercise?”

“Very much so, General. I have some regiments in the UK that wish to play. Last year you mentioned this. So what I would need to know is how many you can accommodate?”

“Well, I will have to see. I believe I can get an answer to you by tomorrow. When were you looking for this exercise?”

“Would it be possible to get it done in the next month?”

“That is possible. I will confirm that to you tomorrow.”

“Thank you General.” 

The exercise with the Austrians was already confirmed for the next week; this time only the transport units would go. Liz had decided to let the senior Battalion commander, Major Young, run that exercise. Liz was just too busy and it was decided that there was no need to bring the Little Birds at all this time. The same with the Apache’s. 

Jim Harkness had been looking over the housing situation; luckily they had 100 slots that could be used by doubling people up that were available in the family housing area. The BEQ and BOQ and VIP housing areas could handle an extra 100 as well. It would be tight but they could just barely manage to accommodate the 160th and Marines at the same time; if the 160th left their crews behind. This would mean a lot of work for the crews of the 161st so Liz upon hearing this went to her Battalion Support Commander, Major Jack Dawson. 

“So there it is. Your crews are going to be run ragged. If we had the housing for the support troops we could have them here. But we don’t.”

“And why can’t we just put them in tents? It will be the summer, for what that is worth. So what if they have to rough it? It is only for 30 days or so?”

Liz thought about that; then pulled out her phone and keyed in a number.  
“General? Liz Parker. Just wanted to ask you a question. We will not have enough housing here for the crews with all the Marines we will have plus each battalion of the 160th So the question I have; we can put up temporary housing; fancy tents. So you have to make the decision whether to keep your crews there and over work mine or send them to live in tents for a month.”

“So my support troops have to rough it for a while. Do them good. No problem.”

Liz smiled as she shut the phone off and looked at Jack. “Now we just have to get the tents.”

“No problem. The Brits have a bundle of them we can borrow.”

Liz was glad she could give her crews a break. So she could check off one problem.

Three days later Liz went to a meeting at the MOD to thrash things out in several areas. She smiled as she remembered General Sosabowski’s call.

“Colonel Parker, my government informs me that we can commence this in 2 weeks. And let it last for a week. I have been given permission to allow 5000 British troops here for this exercise.”

Liz had relayed that to Air Vice Marshal Bryce and he had then went out and gotten The Rifles, 3 Battalions; The Mercian Regiment, 2 Battalions; The Royal Welsh, 1 Battalion; The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, 1 Battalion. None had been able to do much training in the last year so they were very happy to get some. Liz had arranged with Ramstein to transport the Brits to the training area; and pick them up afterwards. They also were bringing the 40th Artillery Regiment and its 18 105MM howitzers. 

For the next two weeks Liz worked at the necessary planning for all of this; fidgeting when most of her Regiment went to Austria but managing to keep from calling there. By the time she left for Poland things had been pretty much settled; frankly for her this exercise would almost be a rest period.

It turned out to be an enjoyable time. The weather was in the 60’s and dry so that was good; General Sosabowski had worked hard and had prepared some interesting scenarios that had everyone hopping. Then Liz had thrown a couple of wrinkles in at the last minute that had everyone scrambling. The Commanding officer of the Rifles was the senior British officer present and ended up being alternately the aggressor or defender depending on the 5 scenarios that had been put together. Once again it was emphasized that flexibility was vital; and a couple of the Battalions did not get that and got thumped. The MOD had sent a couple of observers; and Liz arranged for Predator coverage of it all so it could be looked at later. When it was all over one of the MOD officers, a Colonel on the General staff, spoke to Liz.

“Colonel Parker, I see you once again work hard to keep everyone off balance.”

“Keeps them light on their feet, doesn’t it?”

“That is true. I did not know you could move those Artillery pieces with Black Hawks. That really caused some commotion.”

“Found that out last year. They cannot take the heavier guns but 105’s they can. Not many know that and that fooled that Polish Colonel and then the Mercian commander as well.”

The two observers wrote up their report after watching the predator footage as well. It was not very complimentary to two of the Battalion commanders who seemed unable to react fast enough.

The Chief of the General Staff read the report and looked at his deputy.  
“Hmm. I think we might have to watch those battalions. Cannot have slow thinkers in this Army.”

“Yes sir. On the other hand just about everyone else did very well.”

“True; so overall that is good. Considering the low level of training that we have had to deal with, I can say that I am satisfied. Make sure a thank you letter is sent to Knightress Parker. She works very hard at including us in her training.”

The first Battalion of the 160th was due in on April 2; it was of course the Apache Battalion. Its commander, Major Robert Anderson, was very aware that his command was hanging by a thread. He knew the only thing that had saved him was the fact that he had been asking for more training. But if they did not show serious progress after a month getting worked over by Doberman Parker, he knew he was gone. He had to admit he was intimidated; he knew he was a good Apache Driver and believed he was a good Battalion commander; but he was now about to be put to the test by the best there was in both areas. He had a meeting with his pilots just before they got on the aircraft carrying their Apache’s.  
“OK, people. This is it. You all know we looked pretty poor during the inspection. Technically we passed the standards but that is Horse Shit. SOAR is always better than the standards even on a bad day. Now some of you were here when Doberman was the training officer so you know the route. I got in right after she left so I have not but I have heard chapter and verse since. Captain Edwards was here and now he will take over.”

Captain Josh Edwards was commander of A company; he had been a Lt just about to get his platoon when he had come into the 160th and had been worked over by Doberman.

“Expect the unexpected. Get complacent and you are toast. Just when you think you have if figured out she will pull the rug out from under you. With her it is all about seeing how you react to the unexpected; how well you can get yourself out of a jam. It is going to be hell for the next 30 days; but if you make it and she passes you, you know you are now one of the best there is.”

Anderson knew that his men were ashamed of the performance and determined to show that they belonged with the very best. But sometimes that is not enough; so he hoped that they just made it through without embarrassing themselves.

Liz stood on the tarmac as the first C-17 came rolling in carrying the 1st Battalion of the 160th SOAR. She had made it clear she would be on their ass from the moment they stepped off the plane to the moment the final exercise ended. She had had the time to carefully plan what she was going to do and she grinned in anticipation. It was that grin, reminding all of them of a famished wolf looking for a big meal that they saw as they got off the C-17.

“Major Anderson. I would like all pilots and copilots in the conference room as soon as they are all on the ground. You have from now until that moment to rest. There will be very little after that.” And they found out that she spoke the literal truth.

“Let me make this perfectly clear in case you had not gotten it by now: you are here because you stank it up at your last inspection. If you do not pass this training mission with good marks you will be replaced and sent out of the 160th. There is no appeal; my word is final. The next 30 days your soul may belong to God but your ass is mine. I expect your aircraft to be in flying condition in 2 hours. Our first flight will take place at that time. The whole Battalion will be flying. I will be in my Apache and it will be up to you to keep up with me.”

She took them out and ran them from that point until dark. Then took them up at 0600 the next morning and ran them all day; only stopping for them to refuel. Then she spent the next day tearing them apart in her critiques. Then after giving their crews time to do maintenance on the choppers; she woke them all at 0200 and had them do an emergency combat mission; she had the cloverley’s out in the Irish Sea towing targets. Then she worked them all morning and critiqued them at night. She kept this up for 10 days until they had to rest the helicopters to allow maintenance to catch up. 

Major Anderson managed to drag himself to the mess hall at 0630. She was generous on the morning of the 11th day allowing them to face her at 0730 instead of the usual 0630. He found a Zombie looking Captain Edwards nursing coffee and a half eaten breakfast and sat next to him.  
“Was she this bad when you were there?”

“No. This is worse; but if you want the bad news it is not as bad as she can get when she really wants to be. This is just a case of seriously sustained nastiness that I have not seen before.”

“OK. How do you think we are doing?”

“I have no idea; sometimes I think we are getting there then she pulls something and we look like dog food again.”

Liz groaned as she got out of bed; this was a tough time for her as well. She was very glad that the Marines would not show up until May. She had found that she was going to have to really grind on the 160th people to get them up to the standards they should be at; they had gotten soft; no question about it. The good news was that they were excellent pilots. So she had hope for them. Now if just she could survive it.

Jim Harkness was talking to Majors Landon and Young; they watched as the 160th guys moved towards the conference room with all the enthusiasm of someone going in for root canals. Without Novocain.   
“Is it my imagination or is she being kind of tough on them?”

Young thought about it. “Yeah, I think so. Not hugely; we have seen her when she is really on it. But then these guys just pretty much flunked a no notice. So she was going to be tough on them anyway.”

Landon nodded. “Remember, guys, this was HER battalion for quite a while. She built it. So for it to fail is really to her something personal.”

Harkness and Young both blinked; then slowly nodded. That had not occurred to them.

The acting 160th Head had tried to not call to find out what was going on but after 15 days had gone by he had to. He called her office at what was for them 1700 and got her secretary that told him that she was out flying with the 160th. He left a message asking her to call. She called him back; he looked at the clock and saw that it was almost 9PM.  
“Colonel, my curiosity got the best of me. How are things going?”

“So far so good; just about to start the last batch of training; will be 10 days straight of it; I will give them tomorrow off to rest. Then right after that they will go in a fly off with my Battalion.”

“I notice it is 2100 your time; when did you land?”

“About half an hour to go. I kept them up for 6 hours this afternoon and evening over the water making them maneuver.”  
“OK. I guess I will leave it to you then.” After he hung up he wondered just what hell she was putting his people through.

Anderson watched as two of his pilots pulled a third pilot up after he fell asleep in the mess hall and slipped out of his chair. Not that he felt all that much better. The good news is the Doberman was giving them the next day off; the bad news was that the day after that was the fly off with her battalion. Graduation or Execution.

Liz groaned as Max gave her a massage; this period had been just as tough on her.   
“So how are they doing?’

“Well. They just have to fly against my guys now.”

“Who have been getting ready for this?”

“True. But I am going to be throwing wrinkles in at the last minute; this is a test for my guys as well.”

“160th, break right; 161st break left; then maneuver by companies in standard ground attack; when I give the word, break. BREAK!”

Liz then had them both play follow the leader to her; then confront each other by maneuver. She started it at 0600 that morning and worked them until they were out of fuel which took 4 hours at full maneuvering. She constantly changed things; making them react then react to the reaction. As they all landed just after 1000, she told them she wanted them in the conference room at 1300 where she would tell them their status. She went to her quarters to shower and change out of her sweat soaked flight uniform. Then she relaxed and thought about things.

Major Anderson led his people into the conference room wishing it did not feel like they were trooping to the gallows. They sat down and waited.

Liz walked in at 1300 then began her critique as she asked questions and prodded and poked until 1500. Then she looked around at them.  
“Good Job. You guys passed the nastiest training session I ever came up with.”

Then walked out.

Major Anderson and the others sat for a moment. Just sat there. Then they as a group just let out a big breath. Then they began to grin and laugh and shake hands.

Liz then called a meeting of her Apache Battalion.

“You guys did OK. But you gotta remember not to get overconfident. They did very well against you. Frankly it was just about a tie; the only edge you had was that you were more used to me. Other than that it was just about even.”

The 160th personnel got out of the aircraft at Campbell and looked around. No one actually got down and kissed the ground but it was close. Major Anderson walked up to the Aviation commander and his acting Commander and saluted.  
“Sir, 1st Battalion reporting back from Hell, sir.”

SOCOM called him up after they landed.  
“So any requests for transfers?”

“None so far; but I have a hunch if I told them they would be going back again in a couple of months they would all put papers in. She really wrung them out and shook them up; but I could see it in the way they walked and talked; they know they are good again. So I guess it worked.”

“When does the next battalion leave?”

“Next week.”

“Just long enough to have all the horror stories sink in.”

“Yes sir.”

Major Anderson was buttonholed by the commander of 2nd Battalion, who would be going next.  
“OK. No BS. Just how tough was it?”

“Our SERE was a walk in the park in comparison.”

“Come on. No way.”

“You will see.” Then walked away. Leaving the 2nd Battalion commander worried. He talked to his company commanders the next day.

“OK. What have you heard?”

“Total Hell for 27 of 30 days. She gives 2 days off then the last day you are leaving. I am getting this from everyone. But you can tell those guys are stoked now. They are walking around with huge chips on their shoulders.” 

Liz actually took her family and visited London for a couple of days to rest and relax from the training period. She knew she had really pushed all of them to the limit. This was a good time to be with her family.

Major Tom Warner was the commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 161st. Liz had assigned him to get mean and nasty with the 2nd Battalion of the 160th; and to be prepared to be run through the ringer by Liz as well. His battalion’s combination of Little Birds, Attack Little Birds, and Blackhawks was the most diverse of the regiment’s battalions. So he was used to things being a little strange as a normal day to day event. The program was that for the first ten days he and his battalion people would run the 160th ragged. Then they would have a day off and then Liz would start on both of them. It would end with a flyoff between the two battalions.  
The relief that the 2nd Battalion felt that they were not going to get bitten by Doberman until half way through the month soon left as they found that Tom Warner was trying to outdo Doberman. And not doing too badly at it. 

The Marines started to arrive in the second week of the 2nd Battalions purgatory; and they got stories to share with the rest that showed up.

Liz wasted no time with the Marines. She met each one on one and put them through the mill. Grilling them then taking them to a simulator. Working them over there. Only then did she take them up in a Super Apache. With herself as pilot; then starting them out with basic maneuvers and the like. She gave each applicant a full day to convince her he was worthy. She got through the first 5 before she went out and started working over both regiments 2nd Battalion. Basically putting them through drills of pickups and reacting to changes in mission. She talked to the Scots and they agreed to get picked up and put down and also their equipment; it was not full training for them but their Colonel said it was something to do and fun to watch. The Attack Little birds would be chased by her in her apache and expected to get away; using their maneuverability. Which turned out harder for them then they thought; then a shoot off. The Little Birds found that the Para’s that Liz had recruited gave them other problems.

“That Colonel is something else. She had us act like we were drunk to see how her people reacted. Then drugged. Then had them pick us up and change courses about 5 times before we were put down. They sure looked miserable. Not just the ones she is supposed to be training; her own as well.”

The Fly off consisted of the Scotts randomly deciding where they wanted to be put down; changing their minds a couple of times each. Then just to test the ground crews as well, having them compete. She had also done this to her Apache crews as well. When she was done with them she smiled and said.  
“Good Job. Have a nice day.” 

Then she went back to drilling and filling Marines. She was determined that none of them would be told until she was done with all of them. She had 250 to go through and realized that she could not spend a whole day with each. So she decided to spend an hour in her Apache after she had put them through her interview process then the Simulator. She began to use Jim and others to monitor what happened in the Simulator while she flew them around. The first group of 50 were done in two weeks after the 2nd Battalion was sent back. Liz had said that they had done well and so they were happy. Sam Young would be taking care of the 3rd Battalion.

It was the beginning of May and the President would be there on the 12th to give the unit the Presidential Unit Citation and Liz her second DSC. Liz deliberately forced herself to step back and take a day off; the Marines were quite happy. The first batch had left and the second group of 50 were in. Luckily since the Marines were not all coming at once they had not had to put anyone in tents.

Liz got back to her office the next day and looked over the plans for the ceremony and the President being there. He would arrive on Air Force One and greet the unit; and then make the presentation. Then Fly out. He would only be there for one hour or so. Which suited Liz fine. The Secret Service was already looking around. In the middle of this her secretary buzzed her.  
“Colonel, the Marine Deputy Commandant for Aviation is on the line.”

This surprised Liz so she was not sure what to expect. She picked up the phone and waited for the General.  
“Colonel Parker, I have been told you have seen the first 50 applicants.”

“That is correct General.”

“How many passed?”

“So far sir 17.”

“Just one third.”

“Yes sir. Most of them do not have the thinking speed. That is the usual problem. Why so many wash out at the 160th and 161st. This is not an extreme number from our experience.”

The Deputy Commandant called the Commandant.  
“Just talked to Colonel Parker. Out of the first 50, she approved 17. Said that is not surprising for Super Apache applicants for the SOAR. Most of them then are sent to the Black Hawks or others.”

“If that keeps up, have we enough applicants?”

“Just barely.”

“Well we told her that she was the sole voice on this. The good news is that they will truly be elite.”

“From what I have heard about how she is working over not only the 160th but her own people, there is no doubt they will be if they can pass her muster.”

“Colonel Parker should have been a Marine.”

“Yes sir.”

Liz looked around; the 161st was lined up in formation behind her as the President’s plane landed. The honor guard was in position. They had brought in the band from the Scots Regiment to play Hail to the Chief which was a good touch. He came down the stairs and the ceremony began.

“For distinguished service to the United States and indeed all Mankind, I am honored to present to the 161st SOAR the Presidential Unit Citation. And to its commander, Colonel Elizabeth Parker I am equally honored to present the Distinguished Service Cross, for her leadership and example.” He then pinned the medal on Liz and handed her the placard. Then he turned and signaled the plane and Liz was shocked to see her Mother come down the stairs. The President was smiling. Nancy was smiling fit to burst and then the President spoke.

“This is further appreciation for the service Colonel Parker has done for the United States. With congressional approval, I hereby promote her to Brigadier General, effective 12 May 2016.” Then the President on one side and her mother on the other pinned stars to a dazed Elizabeth Parker’s uniform.

The President got back on the plane not long after and left Liz trying to recover. Her mother told her that she had been called by the President on Liz’s Birthday, which was May 5th, and told about the promotion. Her Congressman had quietly gotten it done and kept it all very quiet. These promotions were usually done in batches. This was a singular one off. The Congressman had sent Nancy a copy of the special act that made Liz a Brigadier General. Nancy would stay a few days then fly back on a plane sent by SOCOM, who had been in on all this.

As could be expected this made news. FOX and CNN had covered the President’s trip and of course had shown the ceremony live. So it had come as a shock to everyone. 

The Posse and Crew were at work, but they had made arrangements to tape it. Maria took time off from work to watch it live and was the only one of Liz’s close friends to see it as it happened. She of course called Liz that night.  
“Liz that was so funny; the look on your face was a trip!”

The media ate it right up; Liz had to admit she did look totally shocked; which of course she had been. There were many comments about how Liz was the youngest General the US Military had had since the Civil War. She had just turned 33. Several commentators mentioned that she was the first person to make general without any college or so called higher learning since the Second World War. And others mentioned that she would now have to attend the Command College for general officers; which was done before they got their promotions-usually. Others talked about how it seemed a sure thing that she would one day reach the highest levels of the US Military.

Liz that night as the Regiment had a party, told all of them that she really had to give them the next day off as she would be a piker if she didn’t. That evening when they all got back to quarters Aliya looked at her mother.  
“It is going to be strange to have a general as my mother.”

The next day they just lounged around home with Nancy, talking and enjoying each other’s company. Ted had wanted to come but right at the moment things were too busy where he was at work. The next day Nancy headed back; but before she got on the plane she smiled at Liz and hugged her.  
“I am so proud of you honey, my daughter the General.”


	21. Letting go

Back at SOCOM they had finally been able to find someone who looked like he could get the job done at the 160th and the Aviation Chief was returning to his position that he had held 8 months earlier. Both of them discussing the recent promotion of General Parker.

“Sir, while it has been understood for a while that her next posting would be here, are you sure you are going to be able to keep her?”

SOCOM shrugged. “Not anymore. The Pakistan mission really put her over the top. Like the chairman said it is going to be a case of whoever survives the knife fight will get her. Now for us the good news is that there really are not that many positions that warrant an officer of her record. And let’s be honest here; yours really is not one of them. At least not to anyone outside of USSOCOM. Also the really good news is that she is going nowhere until she finishes training up the Marines which will take at least another year. Probably more. Then she has to go to command college, which will really be funny. Them trying to teach her ANYTHING about command. The Joint Services Command would have killed for her; but of course since that command is about to go away that takes care of them.”

“And since she will be working with the Navy on the training of the Super Apache’s for shipboard operations, she punches her tickets for joint operations. She has worked with other countries on both combat and non-combat so that ticket is punched. Frankly she goes to Command College and there is nothing else required she has got to do to go further up the ladder.”

“So from this point on there is nothing she HAS to do.”

“So whoever wants her is going to have to justify why and not be able to use ticket punching as the excuse.”

“Exactly. And as long as her congressman is around no one is going to be able to try and send her to a hole. Of course now anyone trying to do that will get fried anyway.”

“Still some will claim she has to do time inside the Pentagon.”

“Well, that one is valid. You do need to know once you become a general how the puzzle palace works.”

“Or actually doesn’t work.”

“I cannot argue with such a visionary truth.”

“To be serious you know they are talking about bringing back the RDF.”

“It is interesting since they claim it never went away.”

“No it became CENTCOM. But now there is a movement afoot to try and make it live again as a separate force from all services.”

“In this day of austere budgets good luck to them.”

“I guess.”

SOCOM thought about it for a while and decided that maybe he needed to sniff around himself on that. So he began to call around and was somewhat surprised to find that there was indeed more fire then just smoke to this. Some of the more influential members of Congress were looking at it; and some former senior military types were pushing it as well. SOCOM really did not see the point. They had forces earmarked to quickly respond. They had both SOAR’s; and USSOCOM; the 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions both had brigades that were kept on quick alert. The Air Force by its nature was fast to move. The Navy was the only ones that did not and once again by their nature it was not logical to have them even try to be. They had light troops and lots of air assets to respond; and they could always hit with missiles or bombs when that was needed. There was NO way to get heavy forces anywhere fast; even the US could not afford the dedicated air transport assets that would be required. Just to move one heavy armored brigade to a place would require most of the US Military’s transports. This was logical; so what was behind all of this?

He found the answer a few days later; and the culprits were ones that surprised him: the US NAVY. They planned it this way: Build it around three groups of ships; 2 helicopter carriers and 2 LSDs/LSA’s; plus several fast roll on roll off ships now in the mothball fleet. They would sail around the Pacific, the med and northern Atlantic; and the Indian Ocean. Always ready to launch and attack. With the troops and tanks, VTOL’s and attack and transport choppers to basically put a Brigade anywhere likely within 24 hours of getting close. They were arguing that the assets were already available; just not in the right places. The PrePo ships took days to get anywhere at best and more likely a couple of weeks. Air transports would take days to gather then get there. They wanted to take the 161st and leave a reduced 160th to take care of SOCOM; and with that regiment bolstered by two more battalions of Super Apache’s have three strike forces within 48 hrs of putting tanks and heavy forces plus lots of other forces anywhere likely to be needed. They would have a battalion of Abrams; and a battalion of Bradley’s and Strykers; and two battalions of infantry. They were making the argument that the Marine Super Apache’s would get the job done and that the Marine MEF’s should be used for this instead. It amazed SOCOM that they had gotten this much backing. The big problem SOCOM saw was that all these forces had to spend so much time ship bound. Which begs the questions how to keep them trained and ready to go? And you would need equal troops on shore to rotate out. Say 6 months or 4 months on and so on. Which would be hell on the families of the troops and crews. SOCOM shook his head. Dumb idea. They had as far as he was concerned the best that could be done now; without really wringing out the troops, crews and families involved. 

Liz’s congressman had been enlisted in this process; he was dubious but willing to listen. SOCOM talked to him and pointed out the problems.  
The Congressman respected SOCOM, but had to consider that he was also protecting his territory. This was to be expected; it was part of the way things were done. So he called someone he knew would be straight with him.

“General, your congressman is on the phone.”

“Congressman, what is going on?”

“I don’t know if you have heard, but there are some members in congress pushing a new type of RDF. It would basically be three groups of ships with a brigade of heavy forces plus helicopter carriers. They would have F-35B’s and Super Apache’s and lots of transport helicopters. Basically it would be the three Marine MEF’s only the troops would be on ship all the time moving around ready to respond. They would take your 161st as well plus some more transport choppers from the 160th. Their argument is the ships are here now; they have the troops; the F-35B’s are ready and the Super Apaches are not far off. And they would call it a joint force since everyone but the Air Force would be involved. They would have one steaming around the Mediterranean; one in the Northern Pacific and One in the Indian Ocean. Their claim is to be able to in 48 hours put a heavy brigade with heavy support on the ground anywhere.”

Liz sat back and thought for a bit. She could see the positives; but also the negatives.  
“They would frankly need three times the personnel to man this; 4 months on and 8 months off is the most you can do and keep good people; the strain on families is just too much. So you would also need to have two crews or more; frankly three crews for the ships. Like they did with the Missile subs. So the manpower needs would be huge to keep it up. The Marines have the people if they used most of the corps; but it would be hell getting that many pilots and copilots qualified and then keep them qualified. Sir, this just would not give us more than we have now without it in the end costing more. The only edge this gives us is putting tanks and heavy forces on the ground sooner. With the exception of Desert Shield, when was the last time that was needed? In the last 25 years? No sir, I do not think it is a good deal.”

The Congressman nodded; SOCOM had said some of the same things; but she had put it in the way that really mattered in Washington: Cost benefit. To do it right would in the end cost more than what they had now and the benefit was historically unlikely. And that is what mattered.  
“Thank you General, how are things going there?”

“The next batch of Marines for evaluation is due in tomorrow; and the next battalion of the 160th comes in next week. So I am busy.”

“Well good luck. I think I can step on this thing now before it goes any further.”

And he did. He knew how to talk to people and his reference to General Parker sealed it for most of them.

“So the Congressman shut it down. I was worried that would actually get somewhere.”

“I would have thought you would have loved it; the Marines would have had most of that pie.”

“I did not believe it gave us more than what we have now in a way that really mattered; and the point about needing three of each to keep one going was dead on. The training costs would have been horrendous. I kept my mouth shut because the CNO and Commandant bought off on it.”

Liz was just beginning to get used to being called General as the next batch of the 160th and Marines showed up. She had refined the process with the marines down to half an hour interview; half an hour in the simulator and half an hour in the air in the Super Apache. She would do the interview and then the simulator for 5 of them each day in the morning; then spend the afternoon flying with them and seeing what they had. She knew to keep it all unpredictable because they would talk to each other and she would not let any of them get an edge. She was very fair; she gave each one an equal shot; even when she was pretty sure after the interview if one was not going to make it. She was glad she did because a few did not do well in the first two parts but showed very good skills in the cockpit. By far the most of them were eliminated in the cockpit as things that could be hidden in the simulator showed up when they had the stick in their hands.

The Deputy Commandant for Aviation had opened up these slots to all Marine Aviators; active, reserve and IRR. If a reserve or IRR made it they would be transferred to active duty. He had known that there would be no way that he would get the quality force he needed if he kept it to active only. Liz got 30 done a week now by working full time on this; 6 days a week. So by the end of the second week of the 160th 3rd Battalion being in, she had gotten the next 50 Marines done. 18 made it this time. So now she had 35 of 96 slots filled. Per the Deputy Commandants request, she was making up a second list of those that came very close to making the cut. They would be needed due to attrition. So far she had 6 on that list. 

Liz was glad to get away from that process to start working over both Regiments 3rd Battalions. Sam Young had done a great job of messing with the minds of the 160th guys; so Liz had a fairly straightforward job of finding out how flexible and fast to think they were. This group was very vanilla; not great but no real weaknesses. She worked them mercilessly and then in the flyoff brought in the Royal Marines who proceeded to really act rowdy and demanding and basically push the pilots and commanders to the limits with all sorts of things; and the crews were pushed to the max as well. But in the end both Battalions acquitted themselves well. Liz gave them her usual good job; you passed and then went after the next group of Marine pilots.

This group had some gray beards in it; IRR and reserves who were in their 40’s. Liz had no compunction about driving them just as hard; but found that they reacted better than many of the younger active pilots. Experience did help; but Liz bore down on the flight portions of the exam and pushed them really hard. The two weeks went by and out of this group of 50 she got 20, including 3 gray beards. She added 4 more to her second list; making it 55 and 10.

Then because of the way things worked out Liz had what was to her right now an off week. She was able to catch up on some paperwork. And spend time with her family. With a day to go before the last Battalion of the 160th showed up and the next batch of Marines, she was checking on some things when she came across some notes she had written to herself when she was just about to make the move to Scotland, almost 2 years ago. She looked at one in particular and then made a call.  
“That is reasonable. So you are decided?”

“Yes. Things are up and running well and I no longer will feel like I am dodging responsibility.”

“OK. Should be able to get this done fairly quickly. He will be in the zone?”

“Yes. And he deserves it.”

The next Monday night, Liz called for a Regimental meeting first thing Tuesday morning, after she had gotten a phone call telling her it was a go. It was a good day for Mid-June, almost 50 degrees at 0800 that morning. She gave a quick talk to the Regiment, then signaled Jim to step up with her; he did not notice his wife slip in behind him.  
“You all know Jim Harkness is one of the people who keep this place going. All too often support does not get the attention it deserves. Without the crews, our fancy choppers are very large paper weights. Well it is time he got some recognition for his work for the last 2 years. Lt Colonel James Harkness, it gives me great pleasure indeed to inform you that the Promotion Board has seen fit to do the right thing and make you a full Colonel.”

Then she and his wife took off his silver oak leafs and replaced them with the eagles that Liz had once worn.  
“COLONEL Harkness, I think these eagles gave me some luck; I hope they bring some to you as well. Congratulations.”

But as it always seemed just when things are going well something comes along to remind you that the world is not always going to play nice.

The last battalion of the 160th was over to start their rotation through Dog Pound hell as it was beginning to be called. Liz was particularly interested in this because her 4th Battalion was newer than the others; and she was not yet sure of her Battalion commander, Major Rick Stimson. He had done well in the Pakistan mission, but had not really been tested otherwise. It was a case of the fact that he had not really been put through the mill as much as the others. He had missed the Cyprus and Turkish training mission, but had shown OK in all the others. She wanted to put him through the wringer so she could be sure that she could depend on him.

The next batch of Marines were in and Liz worked them over; and then she watched some as Rick did his thing pushing the 4th Battalion of the 160th. So far so good. But as the first week wore on Liz began to get some bad feelings. She had Jim watching the 4th and he was a little worried as well; they got together that Friday night after the 5th day and talked about it.

“He is favoring A company.”

“I kind of thought so but was not really sure. Tell me.”

“Two times this week he gave either C company the harder job; and they really belonged to his Black Hawks. Pushed the 160th guys on their Black Hawk Company.”

Liz sighed. This was not good. “OK. Now why is he giving favorite treatment to A company?”

Jim was quiet and Liz looked at him. “A company, its commander, is his best friend. I think, not quite sure, that he thinks that he has to carry him.”

“Does he?”

“No. Captain Ames is quite solid.”

Liz contemplated this. You picked who could do it best and do it right; that is how you commanded. Playing favorites was just bad.

“OK, they are going to be going over water tomorrow; I want you to ride with him to watch. And do this.”

The next day in midafternoon of an over the water exercise, Jim suddenly orders Major Stimson to break off someone and land on the beach as a sudden pickup. The beach is not very level and would be a tough landing. The appropriate choice was the Black Hawks of his company A. Chinooks were too big.

“C Company, land and secure.”

Stimson commanded B Company; Jim watched as the first Chinook started to try and land; and was going to call it off when the Chinook sat down and then just slumped a little.  
“Mail Carrier Lead, I have damage.”

Liz looked at Jim. “I should have acted faster” he said. 

“Jim, you are not an aviator. The pilot thought it was a little dangerous and found out what can happen when you get over confident. It is not too bad as regards the Chinook. No one was injured and the damage was not serious. But the real point is Rick. This was a case of serious misjudgment or worse. So we are going to grill him.”

Liz and Jim faced Rick alone in her office.  
“Major Stimson, why did you order a Chinook into an area that was best suited for a Black Hawk?”

“General, I thought it was safe enough.”

“That is not what I asked. I asked why not the safest option which was a Black Hawk.”

“Sir, in my judgment it was just as safe for a Chinook.”

Liz and Jim looked at each other for a long time and Liz just nodded slightly.

The next day Liz brought Rick in and informed him that he was being transferred out of the 161st. She told him straight up what had been observed and that she did not trust his judgment. She then promoted his C company commander to the Battalion command and moved up his #2 in first platoon to platoon commander and his second platoon commander took over the company. She had liked what she had seen of C Company and she really had no one else with enough experience. Liz then put off the rest of the training for a few days to let the new Battalion Commander get used to things. Then took over the rest of the training herself, pushing everyone hard. Captain Ames had come in to talk to her.  
“General, I kept telling him that we were fine; green but fine.”

“It is not your fault, Captain. He made errors of judgment and that is why he is no longer with us.”

The next week things seemed to be going well when on the Thursday, with just 8 days to go, they got a hairy situation.

Liz had just gotten back from flying with the last of the days Marine candidates when she noticed things seemed to be going on. Then she was informed that a Black Hawk had shredded its transmission and had by the grace of god landed on one of the Cloverley’s. They were going to get one of the Chinooks to lift it off.

Liz went into operations and said one word. “Report.”

Major Young was in the room. “General, a Black Hawk from the 160th’s A company shredded its transmission; and he managed to get it down on the cloverley.”

“Anyone injured?”

“He ordered everyone out to jump in the sea before he put it down. They are wet but the other cloverley picked them up.”  
In two hours they had the Black Hawk back and were looking it over. Shredding a transmission was not a usual situation; very rare. And usually there was plenty of warning. She immediately went in to talk to the pilot, a WO3 named Alex Jones.

“Sir my copilot noticed the temperature starting to rise; and I informed my Battalion commander and started to head to shore; making sure I was passing close to one of the rescue ships. I was about 10 miles from land when we could hear the transmission starting to go. I headed right for the nearest ship and about 500 yds away I ordered my crew to jump; I was only at about 40 feet. The transmission let go just as I was about to set down. I landed with a bit of a thump but otherwise ok.”

They were already pulling the wrecked tranny from the Black Hawk and were looking at the black box data. The crew chief was shaking his head when Liz asked him what he thought.  
“General, I just reworked that transmission. There is no way this should have happened. It looks like two main gears started to shred and that finally snapped the shaft. They started to shred and that raised the temperature as the oil could not flow and it happened in about 8 minutes.”

“Contact the company. As of this moment you are standing down. I will have one of the other crews examine this.”

Liz sighed as she sat in her office. Jim came in with fresh coffee which she drank about half in one go.

“Well, what you said about having those boats has come true. We just paid for them for the next 20 years.”

“I guess. But I want to know what happened; either there were bad parts or that Crew messed up.”

“Jones flat out says he has a great crew and crew chief.”

“Pilots will do that anyway.”

“Maybe but he is backing his crew chief.”

“We shall see. I want those parts checked carefully.”

Jack Dawson, her Battalion Maintenance commander came in at 2100 just as Liz was thinking about heading to her quarters. He had some paperwork with him.  
“Those two gears were bad. Counterfeit. Below grade workmanship and material.”

Liz blinked. “Counterfeit or the contractor cutting corners?”

“Counterfeit I am willing to bet. This company has been getting us parts for years. Never had a problem before.”

“Contact Army Safety. There could be more of this batch out there.”

As it turned out the company had sub contracted those parts out; and the subcontractor had gone cheap. It would be sorted out but for the time being all Black Hawks that had any parts from that subcontractor were grounded and checked. This would take two weeks to clear up and would result in a curtailment of operations. Liz had spare parts looked over and two black hawks cannibalized to ensure they could finish the training mission and get the 160th people back home.

Liz as soon as she could went back to working the Marines. It was now the beginning of July and she wanted them all done in the next few weeks. She and her command needed some rest in August to prepare for the September event. She was glad the decision to start training had to be pushed back as regards the Marines; she had been hard core about the evaluation process. But the navy was pushing the ships over for the training exercise. They would train on Cyprus with the Brits; and then on Turkey with the Turks and then in Greece with the Greeks. 3 full weeks of training with a week in each would really stretch everyone. The same cast of characters mostly, but the 19th and 52nd Brigades would not be coming this year; while the Commandos, SBS, SAS, Para’s and Royal Marines would be. In addition the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards; 1st Battalion Irish Guards; The Welsh Guards; 2nd Battalion Royal Anglian; 1st and 2nd Battalions Duke of Lancaster’s; 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Yorkshire. And this time they would be bringing both the Commando and Parachute Artillery Batteries. Just to make it more interesting the US Navy had offered both the America and the Columbia for operations down there. Which would give them a chance to operate Super Apache’s from there and learn things. Then they added two of the older Tarawa class ships; and Liz then decided to have a big meeting of all concerned in London at the MOD.

So a week later Liz sat in the center seat again and on her right was a US Navy Rear Admiral and on her left a British Army Major General. And there was a Turkish Major General and a Greek Major general (on opposite sides of course). Air Vice Marshal Bryce, the Royal Commando commander a Brigadier of the Royal Marines. And then the other unit commanders down the sides. It was a rather full table. Once again Liz took the floor.

“OK. This particular training operation is beginning to look like it will be an annual thing. And it is growing. This time the US Navy will have 4 LHA’s. After some careful looking we figure we can squeeze all the UK troops and equipment on the ships; we will fly them to Cyprus and load the ships; then all strikes will come from the ships; then there will be movement from shore. The ships will be there for the first week and we will use them up. These operations will be based on Cyprus. Then we will spend the next week in Greece and the third week in Turkey. This way we will not need to set up camp on Cyprus. Now as regards the command situation. We will be splitting the units as such: the SAS on one side; the SBS on the other; Para’s on one side and Commandos on the other. We will split up the other units so as to make equal sides for the Cyprus operation. Then on moving to Greece all British units will be under Major General Brooke. The Greek commandos and regular army units will take turns with the UK forces playing aggressor and defender. Then when we go to Turkey the same. I want to emphasize that just like last year the plans will be vague and general; it will be up to the individual commanders to get it done. These operations are designed to test the regimental and battalion commanders on all sides. Now as regards the air components; both the Greek and Turkish air forces want to play; but they are going to have to get past my Apache’s and Attack Little Birds; so we will be having our own private war. While the rest of you are also going at it. There has been curiosity as regards the anti-air capability of the Apache and we will test that here. So are there any questions?”

Needless to say there were a few but not that many. There had been so much talk about the No Name operation last year that everyone was eager to see if it could be done again.

“Oh. And regards the name of this year’s operation. It is called Little Interruption.”

Liz found it a little harder to push the keep it simple stupid (KISS) concept this time around but she got support from all those who had been there the previous year. So after some discussion it was agreed to keep it the same way. She was a little amused at how uncomfortable some of the higher ups were about not having a rigidly planned and scripted training operation. She did notice that she was not getting much argument when she pushed hard for something; she wondered if it was the fact that she was now a general or due to her reputation, or a combination of both. At least it came in handy at the moment.

The ships would add a whole new component to the operation and Liz wanted to make sure that was understood by all, herself included. So she went right to the horse’s mouth.  
“Admiral, how do you propose to use your ships in this operation?”

“General, the purpose of those ships is to bring the strike force close enough to reach their target but far enough away to make striking them harder; and to as much as possible allow the element of surprise.”

“Well, then, we need to plan to use them that way as much as possible. The rest of the time they will be the base for operations of the helicopters and other support craft. The question is, and I think we should do this, is to decide whether to leave the troops on ships and go back and forth to the various target areas or move them from one target area to the next.”

It was agreed since the ships would only be there for the first week so they needed to make maximum use of them. The Super Apache’s would be expected to be the CAP. That would be a new thing and something Liz knew they needed some work on.  
This time also the helicopters, once the ships were gone, would move from Cyprus to Greece to Turkey; setting up for full operations at each point. The crews and maintenance would have to move and work from tents.

Liz had proposed, and it had been accepted, that the desalination plants would move from place to place; they would be expected to move and set up quickly just like if this was the real thing. And while the areas were basically decided on, the choice of where they would set up would be a last minute decision. Once again just as if this was the real thing. Realism is what Liz pushed all the time.

“Some here are uncomfortable with the idea of not planning everything down to the finest detail. I ask those that, outside of the opening campaigns of any war, when were real military operations that carefully planned? Once the war began, you had to react and adjust on the fly. Operation Overlord is the only mid or late war operation I have ever heard of that took over a year to plan. Everything else took months at most. So those that think we need to take six months to get a training exercise done right are putting themselves against the history of modern war. Now one could make the point that waiting until 6 weeks before to really get something together is a little bit much but once again I argue why not? Training exercises are supposed to stretch you and make you think.”

No one there argued with her and as far as she was concerned that was that. She did have a short meeting with the senior officer’s right after; the Admiral and the Generals. That turned into a more of a meet and greet than anything else.

Liz finished up the last of the Marine interviews by the end of July; and had 96 on the main list and 18 on the second list. It had been decided that she would start training them in August; their Super Apache’s had arrived for the first 2 squadrons and Liz wanted to get started. 

“OK. You are here to learn how to fly the Super Apache. You have flown in one and gone through a short exercise in a simulator. You have had time to get familiar with the systems and the cockpit, you SHOULD be very familiar with the manual. We will start you out on the simulator; and I do not think I have to tell you that I will be tough.” 

Liz had 32 days until they left for the exercise and she spent the great majority of those days working the first group of Marine pilots and copilots over hard. The copilots had been chosen differently; Liz had not been part of that. She saw right away that some would not make it; but kept quiet about it. There was a full colonel of Marines in attendance who was supposed to be actually in charge of them; Liz had enough to do without that as well. They had talked when he had gotten in.  
“Colonel Martin, how do you feel about babysitting?”

“General, I follow orders. Not the greatest duty but it is needed.”

“No argument there. Glad I do not have to be responsible for them in addition to everything else. You are almost certainly going to have to toss some of the copilots. Frankly I am surprised at how loosely they screened them.”

“So am I. General, just let me know when one screws up and I will have his butt out of here ASAP. I have already informed the Deputy Commandant that whoever was in charge of screening copilots did a lousy job.”

They were to find out that those in charge of this had frankly given it short shrift; cursory at best interviews and perusal of their records. Of course those officers soon found themselves no longer part of the Marine Corps soon after the results became clear, but that did not help Liz or the Colonel.

Liz worked the pilots and copilots equally hard; but the copilots had not expected it. In the first two weeks she washed out or kicked out 15 copilots; and 10 others requested reassignment.

“How did this happen?”

“Sir, it was my office that screwed up. The orders were clear but the training command chose to interpret them very liberally as regards the quality of copilots chosen.”

“That is to put it mildly. General Parker has had to kick out 15 and 10 have quit. That is out of a first group of 50. Colonel Martin has informed me that he expects no more than 20% of them to make it. That is completely unacceptable and an embarrassment to the Corps. I want those responsible for choosing them out of the Corps one way or another; if they fight it get court-martials scheduled.”

“Yes sir.”

Liz was glad that she had made Jim Base Commander; that took some of the paperwork and other crap off of her desk. The latest mess with the copilots had been a real pain in the butt. The pilots were doing well, as she expected. No real problems there. Now that the worst of the copilots were gone that had settled down some. She still did not think that more than a dozen at most of those that remained would qualify.

The Deputy Commandant for Aviation, well aware that he was hanging by his fingernails, had worked over the head of training and had ordered him to personally vet the next batch of Copilots.

By the time it they were ready to leave for Cyprus, Liz had weeded the copilots down to 14. None of the first 24 pilots were gone. She then decided to take them with her, since there was no reason to have them doing nothing for 3 weeks. The whole Regiment was going. So it would have been a ghost town anyway. Then she also decided to take their Super Apache’s as well and have them work into the training. She would have to be careful but she figured she could at least get some work done with them. 

They packed up all their choppers and headed south; the Air Force was collecting the Brits and would fly them straight to Cyprus. The ships were already on location so the first day would consist of loading them.

Liz had never been aboard a ship of any real size so the America, the flagship of Task Group 34.1 was interesting. It had only been in service for 3 years; the Columbia had only been in service for less than one. They were about the same size as the Essex class WW2 carriers; but were extremely modern. They had no catapults or arresting gear; VTOL and helicopters were the name of the game. Usually they had some V-22’s but not this trip. They did have some F-35B’s and Liz was very curious about them.

Colonel Martin gathered the pilots and copilots and laid down the law.  
“There is already a fair number of people watching you; waiting for you to screw up. So think about that. These are the same ships you will be serving in when you become operational; so use this time to get familiar with them. Watch and learn. The General will be working with you when she has the time; expect a sudden call and you better be ready.”

Liz stood on the bridge of the USS America and looked around. They had loaded everyone aboard the ships and were now heading back down the Mediterranean; the idea was to simulate an attack; get to position then launch. The first groups out will be to set up perimeters and defenses; then the next groups out would be attacking them. Outside of a general idea no one knew who was going to do what; recon would be required. The Little Birds would be doing that; over watched by Attack Little Birds; the Super Apache’s would be the CAP; the F-35B’s would be high CAP. 

Liz had changed things a little; she had the 161st and the British Helicopters that had come along fly all the defenders to Cyprus and then the ships sailed out of sight before they started moving them to positions only they knew about. Liz had ordered all crews to not tell anyone where they had put the defending forces. That would force real recon and the commanders to plan on the fly the following morning.

At 0530 the following morning, the British Major General commanding the attacking forces ordered recon of Cyprus. The Little Birds, Attack Little Birds and Apache’s took off by 0600, just before dawn. The ships were 50 miles from Cyprus. The F-35B’s took off 30 minutes later and took over the high altitude CAP; the Apaches kept at about 5000; while the Attack Little Birds escorted the Little Birds in for recon. At 0700 it was reported that Greek air craft were closing; and the F-35B’s went out to meet them. The Greeks sent their F-16’s high and low; the Super Apache’s got to shore and stayed low; in a melee lasting almost 20 minutes, the 32 attacking Greek F-16’s were shredded. They were astonished by being taken out by the Super Apache’s waiting in the weeds. They were unable to find them and were targeted by Sidewinder and AMMRAM’s. 24 F-16’s were considered downed; against 5 F-35B’s and no Super Apache’s.

The Little Birds bored in and located the defending forces. The General sent out the response forces appropriately. And that was how it went day to day; the Greeks trying to figure out how to get through the CAP but usually not succeeding. The ground maneuvers and assault and counter assault got very creative. They had to send back to the UK for more 105 blank ammunition as the gunners used more than thought.

Moving everyone to the staging area on the Greek coast took another full day; but they started going at it the next morning. And there were two night assaults as well. They had tried to see what each regiment wanted to work on and try and use them in that way. They had mostly succeeded. 

By the end of the third week everyone was getting tired; but they kept at it. The General pointing out that in real combat they would be getting tired as well.

Liz took every opportunity she could find to work with the Marines; and she was usually able to scare up time each day. She had taken a back seat to things mostly, only occasionally injecting some last minute change to mess up carefully laid plans. So she spent a fair amount of time taking the Marine Apache’s around; they only took up 12 at a time and rotated the crews; she took them off the ship and then up and around; taking it fairly easy at first to allow them to get familiar with the Super Apache. Two of the copilots she had taken along showed problems and she sent them back to the States.  
The Turks proved even more tricky and it was actually fun to watch; the SBS and SAS got caught out a couple of times falling into traps; and the Para’s almost did an Alamo. But the Royal Marines did capture his command post on a night raid so it mostly evened out. Before they left everyone agreed it had been a very worthwhile exercise.

Getting back to Scotland Liz gave everyone the day after arrival off to be with their families and rest. She went home and just laid around watching her family. Aliya was blossoming into a beautiful woman inside and out; and James was becoming a real boy’s boy. They seemed happy and that was what was really important. She snuggled with Max that night.  
“They seem happy. How about you?”

“I got them and you; I would be a real miserable bastard to not be happy.” 

Liz hit the ground running the next day, bringing the Marines in for more simulator work while having a critique for the training mission. She had really very little to gripe about. 

Meanwhile interest in the results of Little Interruption were looked over in several areas. TRADOC had requested Predator footage and a written record and proceeded to go over all of it with a fine tooth comb. Marine Aviation was very interested in the overall anti air operation; disappointed that the F-35B’s did not do better but astonished at how well the Super Apache’s did. That part began to get a lot of attention. The Air Force was not ready to believe that a helicopter of any kind could really ambush a competently led attack of modern jets; and said so. Boeing then upped the ante by starting to advertise the Super Apache as being able to give moderate protection to ground forces from air attack; they were careful not to boast too much but the message was there. That got some flyboys really irritated. They had resented for years the way many in the US Army and Marine Corps relied on helicopters for ground support; which was kind of interesting considering how often they had tried to get rid of the A-10. This began to percolate up the ladder and the Deputy Commandant for Aviation added gasoline to the fire by casually mentioning in an article that the Marines felt there was no reason that the F-35B’s and Super Apache’s could not afford any attack group sufficient protection from anything except a major air attack. Considering the Marines were known to not be all that happy with the current F-35B package that seemed to be saying that anything getting past them would be taken care of by the Super Apache’s. 

While Liz was working away at the Marines and having them do more and more difficult operations with the Super Apache’s, this debate began to grow teeth and legs. 

“Are you just tweaking the Air Force with those comments or do you really mean them?”

“Sir, the preliminary indications are that just about any strike package short of a NATO one would have a hard time penetrating against a combined F-35 and Super Apache CAP.”

The Commandant raised an eyebrow.  
“They are that good?”

“Sir, remember that the Longbow radar was very good; and this is the next generation. The heat source suppression on the Super Apache is very good; so getting a long range lock with a heat seeker is difficult. The radar return is not that great; so that also helps to prevent a long range lock with a radar seeker. The ECM and ECCM package is the same as the F-22 has. Same with the flare and chaff system. One of the criteria’s of the Super Apache was an increased ability to take on fixed wing aircraft in combat. Now that they can carry 2 Sidewinder and 2 AMRAMM, and since they operate in usually no less than Company strength, their ability to respond to and survive a fixed wing attack is not small.”

“You do know that now the Air Force is going to demand some real exercises.”

“I hope they do. If we do even halfway decently they still lose overall.”

The Commandant nodded. That was true; the Air Force had nothing to gain and everything to lose by pushing this.

But apparently cooler heads did not prevail and at a Meeting of the Joint Chiefs the Air Force Chief of Staff floated an exercise proposal. Since at the moment only the 160th and 161st operated them, it was they who would have to carry the fight though it was clearly aimed at the Marines. The CNO, a pilot himself, also showed interest. No real surprise considering how much the navy had invested in their carriers. Being as it had been mentioned at an official meeting, it was considered a nearly formal request and thus things began to happen.

The Aviation Chief of SOCOM was considering getting out; he did not like desk jobs and anything he did next would not be in SOCOM in all likelihood. So when SOCOM mentioned the idea, he was interested as well. With the rather slow state of things at the moment (SOCOM was less busy now than they had been since it had been created) anything that promised to be different and interesting was desirable.   
“Well, it seems the 160th would be the ones on the hot seat.”

“In all probability; but let’s face the facts: the best right now is the 161st.” 

“True, though the gap has narrowed after she worked their tails off. And the new training officer for the 160th looks like someone who can keep it up.”

“We both know the bottom line of this challenge is aimed right at her and her people. They pretty much embarrassed the Greeks.”

“From all accounts once the Greeks broke through the F-35 screen they thought it was easy pickings afterwards and the Super Apache’s just flat out bushwhacked them.”

“In all honesty at any altitude and say over water the Super Apache’s would be hard pressed to survive at all against a modern trained fighter force. But even there if they go to almost sea level they will be very difficult for any airborne radar even AWACS to see them. Not being seen really evens things out. And as regards defenses against missiles the Super Apache has the same defensive capabilities as the F-22; ECM, ECCM, chaff and flares. They have a very light infrared signature so heat seekers would have a hard time anyway. And the designers have thought that they can lock on an incoming missile with the AMRAAM. It would be hairy but possible. Bottom line is that only at altitude is the Super Apache really in bad shape.”  
“Well, talk it over with her and see what she really thinks.”

Liz had just come down from another nearly all day training session with the Marines. They were coming along well; she had a feeling that by the time the ships arrived in November they would be ready to roll. She was just sitting behind her desk looking with distaste at the paperwork there when her phone rang.  
”General, its SOCOM Aviation.”

“General, what is up?”

“The Air Force wants to prove the Super Apache is no match for their F-16’s, unlike the Greeks.”

“Really? Where did this come from?”

“The Deputy Commandant for Aviation tweaked them. That got the flyboys all upset and apparently the swab jockeys as well. They are sensitive about that sort of thing.”

“And they do not want to wait until the Marines are activated.”

“Pretty much. Nothing formal has come down, but it was brought up at a Joint Chiefs meeting. So I have no doubt something will be coming.”

“Us and not the 160th, which are right there in the states and can do this fairly easily?”

“Come on Liz, you know very well that they want to knock off the Champ and that is you.”

“I know but it is not like I am just lying around doing nothing.”

“That is the price you pay for being #1.” 

“So how do you think they want to do this?”

“They want it out in the open; you want it in real terrain; they will want it higher up; you will want it on the ground.”

“Duh. How about this? We beat them to the punch and challenge them to come to our back yard and fight it out?”

“Scotland or Campbell?”

“Not sure. We have all those lovely trees and hills in Campbell; but we have the cliffs and beaches here in Scotland. Overall probably Campbell would be better. But I cannot take the time to come over.”

“True. You have heard how this is done?”

“Gun cameras and transmitters that show what each aircraft can see and it’s all fed into a central location that decides who shot who down.”

“That and the data from each aircrafts computer. Showing when they got lock, etc.” 

Liz sat back and thought about it. OK why not?  
“Have them come here and see what they can do. I can talk to the locals and see if they do not mind us using the islands in this area; hilly and craggy and should give us an edge.”

“OK, I will start it going. When do you want to do it?”

“Next month before the weather gets too bad.”

“She really thinks they have a shot at doing well?”

“Yes. She will use the terrain and such. And let’s face it, you know the fly boys will come in hot and arrogant.”

“More than likely. OK, I will let it drop at the next JCS meeting next week.”

Liz got the Marines qualified at the beginning of November; then was informed that the next group would not be sent till January. Which was fine with her.

It was formally set up that the first week in December two squadrons of F-16’s would be visiting for a week to settle things as regarding who was the Big Bad in the air. Liz proceeded to talk to the company Rep from Boeing who then talked to some others and began to look at things. Suggestions came about how to deal with being hunted by F-16’s, and how to strike back.

And so it came to be on December 3 Liz led the Super Apache’s out of the base and north about 30 miles to the islands there. It was a cold but clear day. The F-16’s, coming from Lakenheath, would circle around and come towards those islands. Their target was the base, but knew that the defense would be to the North. They came in at 35,000 feet thinking to use their radar advantage; there was an AWACS nearby.

Liz deliberately split her command; one company stayed back near the base; one mid-way; and she took the third forward. She took them right near the ground; the only rule was that they could not actually be on the ground. In Loch Tarbert she waited and then when she got the first radar indications that they were near deliberately popped up to 100 feet then dropped down. 

The Major leading the first squadron went for them from high while the second squadron went low. 

Liz had been deep in the loch and had then moved towards the mouth, staying near the shore at about a height of 20 feet. She then waited until she and all her people got lock and then let go with first a Sidewinder then an AMRAAM. Then headed back into the loch. The second company had waited until they got the signal from Liz then popped up and acquired locks and each fired a Sidewinder and an AMRAMM. Then they headed at speed back towards the Base.

Liz popped up over the hills then went down the coast heading south, staying low. 

Meanwhile the high squadron had managed to supposedly break all but 4 locks and had sighted the choppers only to get swatted by the second company.

The last company moved at speed towards the battle area staying at about 15-20 feet above the water.  
The second squadron came around the area at about 5000 feet and were smacked in the face by the second company who fired off the rest of their ordnance. Liz then caught them between her and the third company in a vice.

“Ok, what is the tally?”

“The first fight was ugly; of the 36 F-16’s that came 28 were considered either confirmed or probable’s; they got only 5 of the Super Apache’s.”

“That is really going to torque them off.”

“Yep.”

“OK, people, we got 28 and lost 5. But we really caught them by surprise and fat dumb and happy. And way over confident. Tomorrow will be different.”

To say that the fighter jocks were pissed is to say the sky is blue. But they had to admit they had walked into it. Well, they would show who was boss the next day.

Liz let her people celebrate for a while then got down to day two of ‘Whack the Jock.’ 

She figured, after talking with some experts in this area, that they would realize coming in high was a mistake. Gave too much warning. So this day she would bet they would come at low level. In other words, come right into my parlor, said the spider to the fly.

She spread her people all around the peninsula, all on the beaches except for her and Company B, she would be with a different company each day. They stayed hovering near trees and basically hard to see not far from the base. They had the run of the area since the Golf Course was closed for the season.

Today the two squadrons came screaming in at below 5000 feet and then went to wave height. They found out that this did not do them much good; as their radar was still unable to find anyone. Until they were right near the beaches where the Apache’s lay in wait. One squadron came from the North and one from the South. Got worked over by the Apache’s on the beach and then as they went over the base at only 500 feet got scorched by Liz and her company.

“Better or worse?”

“They lost only 20; but they only got 2 Apache’s.”

“So from 7-1 they went to 10-1.”

“Their post mission debriefing ought to be fun.”

The third day they decided to not go as low but not as high the first day; and to maneuver over the land not around the beaches and such. They did better as Liz had her people mostly on land for that one. 18 vs 6.

The fourth day they stood off and worked at figuring where the Apache’s were; but Liz foiled them by keeping her people low and hovering; radar once again useless; finally they headed for the base and got caught as Liz deliberately rose then dropped; they overwhelmed her and C Company, getting all 9 of them while losing only 6; but the other two company’s took out 20 more with no loss as they back shot them. 26 vs 9. Which was the best ratio they had gotten.

Fifth day one squadron came in hard as basically a decoy at full speed just below supersonic. They lost 12 as Liz was waiting for them. The other squadron went right for the base and it was declared destroyed; but lost 6 more post bombing supposedly. But they got no Apaches so it was 18-0.

The sixth and last day they split their squadrons into 6 plane sections and surrounded the area and bored in. In that melee they did better but the total still was 25 to 12. 135 vs 37 overall. Just over 3.5 to 1.

“Unbelievable.”

“Yes sir.”

“These were not bad squadrons.”

“No sir, not our best but probably above average.”

“Going against the best there is on the other side.”

“If there was any doubt of that it is gone now.”

“There will be hell to pay about this.”

“Yes, sir.”

The Deputy Commandant for Aviation looked at the Commandant.   
“After further review they changed the numbers a little but not much. Pretty much the same result. The Top Gun people will also be looking at it.”

“And so will everyone else.”

SOCOM and his Aviation Chief looked at the results. He looked at his chief.  
“She really got into their heads I bet.”

“That she did; she clearly out maneuvered them. They tried several different tactics and none of them worked well. They could not get any real radar returns because she kept her people low to the ground. She played the ambush game and they got ambushed. Bottom line is that they have the edge; and that is always true when playing defense.”

The last JCS meeting before Christmas was expected to be interesting; one week after the end of the exercise.

The Air Force Chief of Staff wasted no time and put it right out there.  
“OK, my people went in fat dumb happy and stupid and got waxed. Needless to say we want a rematch.”

The CNO put his oar in. “Our F-18’s would like to have their shot.”

SOCOM looked at them calmly. “I believe some exercises can be arranged.”

Meanwhile the Commandant said nothing. Just smiled.

After the great Scottish Turkey Shoot, as her people called it, things settled down. It was the holidays and the year had been pretty busy. So Liz pretty much let people off as much as she could. She had to maintain enough personnel on base to respond if needed, but she kept that to the absolute minimum. Nancy came over with Ted for a visit; then a real surprise when Maria and her brood of 4 came as well. Liz loved having Maria there; they got a chance to talk like they had not been able to for a long while. Max and Michael got along surprisingly well; and the kids did fine; Nancy enjoyed being with all of them and Aliya found that being the big sister was nice. The new housing had gotten done in August, so there was plenty of room for families to visit. Liz simply put it out that since the rooms would be vacant then people could invite family and they could stay for a minimum stipend. Which was way cheaper than any motels in the area. So quite a large number of families of the people of the 161st came to stay for those holidays.

Liz and Maria were lazing one night, the day after Christmas, just sitting and eating ice cream and hanging out. Liz looked at her friend.  
“So what is the latest with Tess and Isabel?”

“Tess is really thinking about another child; Kyle is willing. Isabelle has Alex thoroughly trained now and it is kind of fun to watch. They are happy.”

“When we met in Basic did you ever think we would end up lifelong buddies?”

“Not right away; but by the time Basic was done I knew that all four of us were best buds for life.”

“I have been so lucky; I never had the friends before I came in that I got being in. The three of you and the Crew and the Posse. Incredibly lucky.”

“We have all been real lucky; but if one is talking about luck then you really need to play the lotto. You were born with a rabbits foot and a four leaf clover already surgically implanted. No other way to explain all of this.”

“Cannot argue. Just living through it without anything but a couple of scratches does constitute considerable luck.” 

Maria was silent for a moment. “Liz I remember once early on you talking about the Gods of War. More and more I get the feeling you are a chosen of the Gods of War. I hear you had something big going on recently.”

“You mean the training exercise in Cyprus, Greece and Turkey?”

“No, not that. I heard you reamed the Air Force a new one.”

“Yeah, they came in fat dumb and happy and we sent them back smarter wiser and in pieces. Ambush big time.”

“We make it a point to listen in and read some of the military forums. They sent two F-16 squadrons after you and the word is you cleaned their clocks.”

“Pretty much. Fighter jocks are all dick and no brains.”

“Liz Parker! Your mom would wash your mouth out for that!”

“Hey. I am an old soldier now and old soldiers are allowed to cuss.”

“Old my ass. You are only 34. And you don’t even look that. You still look years younger than any of us. Which is really bizarre since it is not like you don’t have lots to do and responsibility out the yang. And what is this about the Marines?”

“Training them has not been too bad once I weeded out the wannabe’s from the real thing.”

“Still bizarre you doing it and not other Marines. Even though you are the ones that started the Super Apache’s.”

“Common sense; and the Marines have gotten a bad rep I think. The pilots there are smarter than the Air Force jocks.”

“Not exactly a high bar.”

“True but they definitely think more. Now of course I only took the ones I thought were worth it but still overall much more mature.”

“Still trying to get over you being a General. The look on your face was just so funny. You really were shocked out of your gourd.”

“Absolutely. Realistically I was at least one if not two years off from that.”

“Youngest General in the US military since the Civil War. But then you have really earned it. Liz tell me: when you saw those SOBs going into that bunker, didn’t you really worry?”

“No. They were not going to have time to do anything. They would have needed at least half an hour, maybe more. They barely had a minute before I was blowing that door off. The plasma jets from the Hellfire’s fried them quick.”

“EEEEEWWW.”

“The SF took pictures but I have made it a point not to look.”

“Good call.”

“Really that mission was not all that tough. Just looked that way and the stakes were so high.”

“Liz. You probably stopped World War III.”

“That has been exaggerated. Honestly I look back at it and how in the world were the idiots going to get them anywhere before they got hit from the air by someone? The Pakistanis, Us, whoever?”

“What if they just wanted to set one off to get things started?”

“As long as it happened in Pakistan, India would not have done anything. Only if they had gotten it to India was that a concern. And there is realistically no way that could have happened.”

“Maybe but that is not what most think. Liz, rescuing Aliya was huge; this one was gigantic and humongous in one. You are immortal.”

“The Crew said that when I rescued Aliya. But I guess there is always another high bar to get over. Not that I care much anyway.”

“That is why we love you. Despite everything it has never gone to your head. Liz, you really are a hero. And you act like one should.”

Liz blushed and Maria giggled. “Lizzy blushes!”

After settling down a little, Maria got serious.  
“So what is the next step?”

Liz shrugged. “When they pry me out of here I go to Command School where I guess they teach me to command.” She said with a smirk.

“When that happens there are going to be a whole lot of people shaking their heads. NO one has a thing to teach you about command.”

“Well there are some things I probably need to learn regarding logistics and such; but yeah it pretty much is going to be 10 months of boredom.”

“Maybe that won’t be such a bad thing?”

“Maybe. I was kicking around the idea of having another baby but I don’t think so. Just do not feel the need; unlike you.”

“I think maybe four is enough. Michael thinks so.”

“Well duh.”

“So after the 10 months where would you go?”

“Technically any one star position in the Army; or for the DOD. Realistically probably a pretty high profile one. I would hope for the Aviation Commander of SOCOM but I doubt it.”

“Is there a place they would not send you?”

“Well, they are not going to try and bury me. Actually Brigadier is an interesting rank. Mostly assistants and considered to be a learning rank. Like Lt Colonel.”

“Well you are active in your rank now.”

“True but I am over ranked for this position. But considering it is an important position and it is overseas not markedly so.”

“How long do you think you have?”

“Another year.”

Once back on the job Liz began to think about the fact that she would probably be gone in a year; and began to think about her successor. After what happened with the 160th, she knew it was very important to have the next guy ready to go. As she looked at her battalion commanders, she zeroed in on Sam Young and thought hard about him. The more she thought, the more she began to see him as the guy. And so she made a call.

SOCOM listened and considered things. “I will get back to you on this.”

His Aviation chief, due to retire in less than a year, considered it. And nodded.

“General Parker, we will look into your request and see what we can do.”

The Aviation chief was pensive. “She really is thinking about this; and good for her. I get a feeling that something else is going on.” And looked at SOCOM.

“There is but at this time I can say nothing.”

The next batch of Marine Pilots appeared right after New Year’s, along with what Colonel Martin told Liz were some much more carefully screened copilots.

The next few months went by quickly as Liz trained the Marines and began to make moves to push Sam Young up as her designated successor. He got his Lt Colonel’s leafs and Jim told Liz she should make him her XO.  
“Jim, are you sure?”

“Liz, I got my birds thanks to you. This is as far as I go. My wife and I really like it here; and when it’s time to go then I will hang it up and smile. You gave me a chance to be part of something really special and that is enough for me.”

So Liz did just that.

“You wanted to see me General?”

“Colonel Young, effective 1 March you will be the 161st XO.”

“So she is really sure he is the guy?”

“That is what she says and she made him her XO.”

Liz could hear the clock ticking. As the Spring turned into Summer, and the last of the Marines were trained, she began to wonder what she would be doing next. The Command Staff College was a given; but after that who knew. She just hoped it was an interesting slot. She knew her days of flying ended when she moved beyond the 161st. She wondered if she could stand it.

Proving that they were not totally stupid, the fly boys wanted to take on the 160th. Liz had long conversations with the Battalion commander of the 160th Apaches and made some suggestions. In the end he did quite well; the second round also went to the Apache’s, if only by a little over 1.7 to 1. Once again they made the F-16’s come to them and used the terrain advantages around Campbell. The fact that in two separate areas the F-16’s lost was very hard for the fly boys to swallow.

The Swab Jockeys wanted their shot as well; and they wanted to take on the Champ. Since there really was no situation where the Super Apache’s would ever be in mid ocean, Liz accepted on the proviso that they fight near her base. So in May they came to try their luck. They brought a Viking, which was considered the AWACS little brother, to help. Big Brother would once again monitor. They brought 3 squadrons to the fight; and Liz knew they would make sure they were the best ones they could shake loose for this. She had some long talks with her people; working on strategy.

“OK. We have to figure they are not stupid and know that the best places for us to be is low and hidden. The Viking is pretty good but it is not as good as an AWACS and they have just as much trouble finding us when we are in the weeds. And there is not a whole lot they can do about it. They have to come to us and they know that it will be real hard for them to see us and virtually impossible for their radar to spot us. But our radar does tell them they are being targeted. I think they will try and have some flying high and trying to look down; maybe 15,000 or lower. I would not put it past them to be willing to sacrifice some of their people by sending a section out to try and make us show ourselves. This time it will be much more of a chess game. The Viking might be able to monitor our radios so we will be using the low bands; they will have a hard time doing anything directional with that. Make sure, people, that you watch your transmissions; keep them short and to the code we agreed on. The tower will be giving warnings on omni directional transmissions so that we don’t have to worry about them getting any info that way. We might have to use some of you as decoys; sacrificial lambs so to say. Keep your heads in the game and your eyes open; our advantage is that they have to move and we do not; use it.”

And it was a chess match. The first fight resembled the others; and once again Liz was able to execute a couple of ambushes. They were more careful than the air force hotshots so they did not do as bad. Still the first day ended 17-6.

The second day they did better as they did indeed use some elements as bait and a couple of times it worked. By the end of the day it was 13-9.

The third day Liz got really sneaky; she used a couple of Apache’s as bait and put them forward and the Swab Jockeys got overconfident and she ambushed them badly. 21-7. 

The fourth day they held back and tried to outwait the Apache’s but Liz’s people maintained discipline and finally they tried a mass assault which did not do too bad but they still lost. 27-10.

The fifth day they got very cautious and used multiple elements as bait and going right after them. But the Super Apache’s managed to do well no matter what. 15-7.

Liz had her people using Sidewinders almost exclusively the last couple of days; on the sixth she decided to take a chance and go with the AMRAAMS first. This caught the Swab Jockeys by surprise and messed up their ambush plans which might have worked. 18-9. 

The total ended up 115-48. Much better than the Fly Boys had done but still a decisive defeat.

In the critique after wards the Navy Captain who had planned the exercise admitted that as long as the Super Apache’s had cover and could stay low, they would have the edge.

Liz gave her people the next 2 days off as a reward for doing so well. She took off as well and spent time with her family.

“This is going to have a serious impact on tactics.”

“Three separate exercises all showing basically the same thing. That is pretty definite.”

“The F-35 guys are not happy.”

“Too bad.”

“When will they be operational?”

“Next month. The 160th just gave them a tough contest so they are ready.”

“The new training officer of the 160th seems very good.”

“They needed one; first one they have had that is close to her. Not quite as good but then she is the best. He is sneaky and nasty and that is what you need.”

Liz waited as the intelligence officer began his briefing. She had this done once a week and once a month had him give an update on the world situation.  
Europe was doing better; even the three weak sisters were improving. So far no more problems seen there. The rest of the continent seemed all right as well. Africa was as usual; no real problems they would care about. The Middle East was quiet at the moment and you had to take what you could get there. Russia and the Ukraine were not happy with each other; Russia felt he Ukraine was not doing enough to keep an eye on any Chechens they had and the Ukraine basically told them to stick it. But that was just the usual bickering; nothing indicated it would amount to anything. The rest of the former USSR was if not peaceful at least not threatening. Iraq was as always a little unsettled; the Kurds were still poking at the Turks but nothing unusual. Afghanistan was in an uneasy peace which was about the best you could hope for. Pakistan was doing ok; the clamp down on the ISI had eased things considerably with India. The level of tension there was much less than it had been. China was beginning to surface from its Three Gorges Dam collapse but they no longer had the overflowing cash box they had before and that helped; also there were signs that the monolithic Communist party was starting to fracture; the capitalists were gaining influence. The recent major mistakes by the military on the new aircraft carrier that was going to have to be mostly rebuilt; and on the new fighter that was supposedly a rival to the F-22 and turned out to be a total lemon had diminished the military’s influence measurably. 

Otherwise there were no real worries on the horizon. Except for one.

Iran was literally boiling. The protests that had been stamped on in 2010 and 2011 had been pushed underground but had not been extinguished in any way. The crazy whack job was gone but the new so called President was a true puppet to the Mullahs, who as long as they had the support of the Revolutionary Guard would stay in power. But it was increasingly clear that resistance was growing. The Guards did a very good job of adding more Martyrs to the resistances memories; and making them madder and madder. What had everyone worried, though, was their steady persistence in making a nuclear weapon. The process had been seriously derailed with the CIA’s computer worm infestation; but they had finally started to move beyond that. Russia was beginning to realize that helping them with their unneeded nuclear power program had not been a good idea, but it was too late.  
Early that year Liz had been one of the operational commanders briefed on the latest there. She had gone to the Pentagon and had been one of only a dozen in the room.

“The President has made it clear that we cannot afford to have the Mullah’s get a bomb; especially some that has very good reason to feel insecure. The resistance is steadily growing despite increasingly vicious attempts to crush it. As history shows that tends to just make any resistance movement that has real popular backing tougher. Needless to say the Israeli’s feel the same. They have been constantly refining their strike plans. We have seen nothing that indicates their total unwillingness to accept an Iranian Nuclear weapon has changed at all. Best estimates are that once they think that Iran is within 6 months of testing one they will start the countdown. When the Iranians successfully test one the Israeli’s will strike. It has quietly been the policy of the US that when that time comes we will assist them. Most likely with tankers; but it is possible we will use other assets.”

Liz did not need a piano to fall on her head to figure out what those other ‘assets’ might be. 

“Our information has been firmed up in the last year; we now are reasonably certain exactly where the program is based. Needless to say the Iranians made sure the installations were deep underground and meant to withstand conventional bombs. The Parchin, Natanz, and Esfahan facilities are where we are certain that the major parts of the program are based. Natanz appears the most crucial; and is defended accordingly. We believe our latest edition of the bunker buster will penetrate and destroy those locations. However Israel does not have the aircraft capable of delivering them. They weigh over 20,000 lbs. Only our B-2 and B-52 can carry them. But the Israelis want to be sure; so the plan they have put together is to hit the others with air strikes but put Paratroopers at Natanz to make sure. It does not take a genius to see that those paratroopers would be considered expendable.”

Liz shivered at that. With the way the Israeli’s treated their military, making them expendable told her just how serious they were. 

“There is an airfield nearby that C-130’s could use. The Israeli’s would almost certainly try. But it would be very tough for them.”

Liz wondered if the US would then help. That was answered quickly.

“The president has made the decision that we would try and help.”

“That decision made, it is up to us to figure out how to do it.”

From that point on it became about getting them out of there. Which would consist of neutralizing the Iranian air defense so that the transports could get in and out. Liz was quite glad to see that nothing was planned for her unit. But why was she here, then? She was to find out after the meeting.

She had been asked to stay behind; it was only her and the briefer, a Colonel Marin, who was Army Intelligence.

“I am sure you wondered why you were here, since none of the scenarios mentioned involved you.”

“Now I find out.”

“Correct. The current way the Israeli’s have this operation configured is that along with the Paratroopers they will be dropping ATV’s. Only a company of paratroopers, just at 120. The ATV’s are four men each. So that means 30 of them, with probably a couple of extras. They have a range of about 100 miles. If they cannot get in the C-130’s to get them out, they will head west through the passes in the mountains here. Basically to get as far away as they can. Then call for pickup. In terrain that no aircraft could reach.”

Liz began to get a cold feeling. “But that range is still probably 200 miles from Iraq.”

“At least; probably closer to 250.”

She sighed. “Getting Black Hawks in that far means refueling somewhere.”

“Which is why they would not be used.”

“Chinooks? That is tough on that kind of penetration, even with escort.”

“This has been batted about for over a year. Black Hawks, Chinooks, even DAP’s were considered. The problem is that nothing we have has the range without refueling. And that would be extremely risky given that the Iranians have worked hard on the last 5 years in increasing their anti-aircraft defenses. So any refueling would be extremely risky. But an alternative was proposed and it has been looked at and found to be the most likely successful possibility.”  
He then opened a folder and showed her. She managed to keep her jaw from dropping but barely. “This has been tested and found to work.”

She took a deep breath. “I guess it makes sense but that is still going to be really tough on those paratroopers.”

“Better than being captured.”

She looked at it again. “One on each side carrying 3.”

“Which means the helicopter would be carrying six. Leaving off the 2.75 rockets and hellfires would compensate for the weight. It is made out of Kevlar so it will give them protection from small arms fire.”

“This is different from the ones on the Little Birds.”

“Much improved; the Plexiglas cover protects them from the wind; and it is bolted to the wing.”

“This would take some work; our wing is moveable. It would have to be fixed and then disconnected from the flight controls.”

“It can be done in one hour.”

She sighed and nodded. “Where will they be kept in the meantime?”

“We do not want anyone to know we are working on this; so they are kept at Campbell.”

Afterwards she wondered when they would decide to try and start using them in other operations. Thinking about that crazy operation she hoped if the time came that the US just dropped the bunker busters instead. But she knew why this was thought up: depending on the administration, they might not be willing to drop the bombs. But they would be quite willing to sacrifice her people, she thought bitterly.

Liz finished listening to the intelligence briefing thinking that maybe she needed to have a talk with him; he did not need to give an over view every time when the audience was the same. But that was a relatively minor detail. Overall he did well.

She went outside for some fresh air; in mid-June it was warmer than usual; in the low 60’s. Clearing from the rain they had this morning the sun was out and warming things up. She knew she would miss Scotland when it was her time to go.

With the training of the Marines done; and no exercises scheduled for the next month, it was a time to kick back some. She had run the Regiment through one of her scenarios last week and had pushed them some; they were in good shape.

She knew that probably early next year she would be pulled away and sent to Command School; the Army War College. SOCOM had hinted she would not be going through all the standard courses; which suited her fine. And having almost a year off from the pressures of command would be very good. She could spend more time with her family and friends. She just wished that it was closer to either Nashville or Savanna. Still, Carlisle, PA would be a good place to live for a while. The northeast had a lot of historical sites to see. And the War College was a short drive from Gettysburg. A place Liz had always wanted to see.


	22. As one door closes...

A week later Liz was working away at the never ending paperwork when Jim came in.  
“Flash Traffic.”

Liz remembered the last time that had happened; she really hoped this one was not as interesting. 

Liz skimmed it quickly then read it more carefully and sat back. Not exactly a surprise. Well, at least they had time; and maybe this was wrong or something else would come up. One could hope. She called in Jim and Sam Young.

“Iran. The leading opposition figure was just killed by the Revolutionary Guards. The wonks think that this might just be the final straw. We shall see. At the moment it has no effect on us. This is just advisory; the details in it are more than you are going to hear on TV or read in any of the newspapers. The pot is about to boil over; this is just the last in a series of moves the Mullah’s have taken trying to keep the lid on. I doubt it will work any better. At the moment we will not be increasing our alert factor. Unless something different comes down the pike, this is more something we will just be watching to see what comes next than anything else.”

The next few days there were no more Flash messages; while the Iranian Government was trying to keep anyone from knowing, they were unable to seal the country off from the rest of the world. So the protests and violence were described if not shown on tv. The talking heads seemed to think it was finally boiling over. Some really brave Iranians were using their cell phones to send pictures; and others with satellite phones were doing the same.

Then another Flash message came that said that it was escalating; the military was firing on demonstrators; hundreds had been killed in Tehran alone. And the protests were nationwide. Civil war was just about certain if it had not begun already; and it was going to be bloody. The Mullah’s had been very careful to make sure the Revolutionary guards were the most dedicated and fanatical followers; so their support was just about a given. They had been expanded over the last 5 years to a force of over 500,000. They had for all intents and purposes taken over all military responsibilities. There was differing opinions on just how good they were at real military procedures. Though it seemed they had worked hard on some things like air defense. That increase was more than double what they had been before 2011; and it was questionable just how good the new comers were; and how devoted. But so far there seemed to be no cracks.

The next week brought more of the same; it was clear that Iran’s economy had all but stopped; and no country could keep that up for long. The third Flash Message indicated that there were cracks showing: some of the units of the Revolutionary guards were not as committed as the Mullah’s had thought; there was information that there had been several mass executions. The message indicated that the Intelligence Services believed that the end game was coming soon. At that point Liz put her people at a level 1 alert, which told them they needed to stay nearby and be ready.

The CIA and NSA along with most of the world’s intelligence agencies were monitoring the situation as best they could. Very few had any real agents at any level in Iran. Satellites and intercepted messages helped, but agents in place still trumped all that and no one seemed to have many if any at all. There were those that could watch what was happening in the streets and report it but what was going on inside the Revolutionary Guards was what was really important and no one knew that.

The President expected a daily update and was not very happy with the lack of hard information.  
“Billions are spent each year and all you can tell me is little more than what is on the web from camera phones?”

“Sir as far as we know no one has been able to get any agents close enough to the real power to know what is happening. Satellites and intercepts do give us more details on what is happening. But not why or who is in control. It is clear that the Guard is starting to fracture; the newer units have been shown to lack the necessary religious zeal the Mullah’s want; at least 5 reported instances of a whole company sized unit being executed. But even the more established units no longer are showing monolithic devotion. It is clear this cannot continue; the refineries and oil ports are closed; so no more money is coming in. Factories are not operating. Transportation is breaking down. It is a matter of time before food starts becoming scarce. That is the final tipping point in our estimation. Starving people no longer care about anything except food and will not be stopped except with a bullet in each one. There are over 80 million people in Iran; that number consumes a lot of everything that is no longer being produced. And even half a million guns will not stop them from doing what they want.”

“How long?”

“A few weeks at most. We would be amazed if something big does not happen in that time that finishes things off.”

“It is clear; the faithful no longer are.”

“Western influences have ruined us.”

“All is not lost yet. There is good news; away from where everyone is looking and watching our project managers say they are ready.”

“No one suspects?”

“We have been very careful. All too many think there is only one way to make one; there is the first way which is very simple and very reliable, and of sufficient size to be decisive.”

“We must test one!”

“The Zionists and the Great Satan will know then. We must bring our people back to Allah, unite them. The only way is to make them aware of our real power.”

“Where?”

“Sirjan.”

“Where it started.”

“It will be cleansed in fire.” 

Liz was getting a bad feeling about Iran; she just knew it was about to get a lot worse.

“How did we miss this?”

“We thought that like everyone else they were working on getting a modern warhead that could be miniaturized for missile use.”

“How many do you think they have?’

“If they used all their available material in this way, as many as 7-10.”

“Air transportable?’

“Yes, but not close to being small enough for missiles; each one probably weighs 3 tons.”

“The information is that specific?’

“Israel has been the ones most worried for good reason; the fact that they managed to get anyone inside is amazing. Their agent only found out yesterday; a small working group did it; isolated from everyone else. The yield will probably be about 25KTs.”  
“Big enough. What are their plans?”

“Their agent said that they were told it would be used soon to convince the unbelievers.”

“How is he getting this out?”

“The agent is able to email another person using their intranet; it is buried in some porn. The agent is a brilliant mathematician and is forgiven his weakness because of it.”

“That is a lot of information on their agent.”

“They really want us to believe.”

“In order to help them.”

“Of course.”

“Mr. President, they have bombs now. They went with the gun design; the Hiroshima model. Limited in size but very simple to make once you have the fissile material. The Israeli’s think they have enough for 7-10 25KTs bombs. Too big for anything but a strike plane to handle but will still get it done.”

“You are authorized to take out that site. Support the Israeli’s for the other strikes.”

The NSA was busy checking everything when someone noticed something. 

“They are not sure it will work?’

“Sir, the strange composition of the roof of that Nantaz site was puzzling; we knew they were building it to withstand our bunker busters. But it was only just now we noticed that detail about the third level. It is too deep for the bomb to probably compensate for it. Having an air gap of 40 feet before the final barrier will cause it to detonate almost for certain. And in that case the last level will probably survive.”

“We can’t fix the bomb to compensate?’

“It will take months of work, sir, to be sure. At the very least several weeks to come up with and make something.”

“The only other option is to use a nuke ourselves?”

“Yes sir if you want to be certain.”

“So it is either that or the Israeli operation. And we did not plan one of our own.”

“No sir.”

“When?”

“They want to move in 24 hrs.”

“Do it.”

Liz read the latest Flash Message. She called in Jim and Sam.

“We are going to help the Israeli’s take out the Iranian bombs.”

“They have them?”

“They went simple and hid it- they have 7-10 or will have soon.”

“What is our role?”

“Rescue and the details you will just love. Get 1st Battalion ready to load and C Company of 2nd Battalion. My chopper as well.”

The transport aircraft arrived in two hours; they had all the choppers ready to go by the time they arrived. They were staging at an Iraqi airfield that had been abandoned near Kut. 

They made it by 2000 that evening. Once there the crews from the states started to bolt on the carrying pods onto the Apache’s. 20 Apaches would have them placed on the wings; they would have their rocket and hellfire pods taken off; leaving them with only the 30MM. Liz and 4 others would go in with full war loads as escorts. The Israeli’s would hit at 0200. Liz and her people were ready to go at 0130, but would wait for the word to leave.

The US was able to get AWACS and some other aircraft in position and they began jamming the Iranian radar as the Israeli C-130’s went in. Then there was this huge white glow from Southern Iran.

NORAD was watching with satellites; so they saw it first of all the rest of the planet besides those there.

“That is a nuclear detonation; location Sirjan Iran. Estimated yield 27 KTs.”

“Mr President, it is believed that the rebellion really started there and that is why the Mullah’s did it. The Revolutionary Guard was driven out just a few days ago.”

“An example.”

“Yes sir.”

“How many?”

“Population was about 185,000. Though less now since a fair number have probably fled the fighting. But at least 100,000.”

“Is there any chance more of them have been moved out?”

“Very unlikely sir. All signs show this as a case of the big stick scaring everyone, especially their own citizens.”

“The Israeli’s are already on their way?”

“Yes sir.”

Liz and the others stood there shocked as they got the word. She closed her eyes then opened them and looked at her people who were waiting for her to say something.  
“If you want to know why, there is your answer. That is what would have happened if we had not been successful in Pakistan. Only many times worse. Get in your choppers, people; we are taking off in 30 minutes.”

The Israeli Commandos were the best of the best of the Israeli military; they had been training for this operation for years. 110 landed then moved in. A barrage of HARM missiles had knocked out all the Iranian radar systems and they had dropped at 400 feet to make sure they were right on top of the main facility. They were all carrying demo charges to not only blow up the bombs but to blow the doors leading to them. Their agent had given them the exact layout so there were no missed steps. The guard force was not expecting a ground attack; only air so they were slow to react and that cost them. It took them only 30 minutes to reach the bombs; 3 more had been assembled and there were components for several more after them. Detonating charges were laid on each item and component. When they went off there would be very little left. They used old fashioned time fuze; the surest way of all to make sure things detonated. Double primed on every item.

Up above the word had gone out; the other installations had been hit as well and virtually obliterated. But there were reserves of the Guard nearby and they began to close.

The plan had been changed; Liz and the Apaches were sent in no matter what and had already penetrated the Iranian border as they headed towards Natanz.

Liz led the Super Apache’s; she and the 4 other fully armed ones the only escort they had. It was just too short a time to get much else nearby. Then went in low as possible; they had a map made for them but it was still hairy as all get out.

2 C-130’s came in to land at the air strip; but there were Iranians left with good hand held Air to air missiles and they both were shot down. The ATV’s were going to be needed. Both crews died. 45 minutes after landing the Israeli commandos were on their way out of the area. The Revolutionary guard began to pursue, spurred on when the explosion below ground told them that what they had been guarding was destroyed.

The Israeli’s had planned their retreat; they paused and laid some mines that slowed down the pursuit.

By putting everything they had into it, the US Air Force was able to get two squadrons of F-15E’s in the vicinity; loaded with HARMS they began to work over the remaining Iranian Air Defenses. 

The Iranians sent all the aircraft they could muster for night ops towards the scene; but were unable to see where they should go. The US had hit a lot of sites and were trying not to be obvious about what air defenses they really needed to knock out. But a few figured it out and started to head towards the Iraqi border.

At 0315, Liz got the first message from the Israeli commandos.  
“Reached area 1.”  
Liz checked her map; they would be at area 2 in time so she sent back.  
“Pick up at area 2.”

Liz had the apaches moving at just under 190 MPH. The carriers slowed down the other Apache’s a fair amount due to wind resistance, otherwise they would have been doing about 210.

The Israeli’s had used up all their mines and the Revolutionary guard was gaining; they had vehicles that were faster than the ATVS. They neared area 2.

The Guard had managed to contact the aircraft and several were heading their way.

Liz saw the blips on the radar and nodded her head; the Iranians were not very skilled at night work but clearly this was important enough to try. She ordered her lead group to lock on with Sidewinders at 5 miles. They were staying low enough that odds were they were not known about yet.

“Area 2 in 5 mikes. Enemy closing.”

Liz looked at her screen; there were only 3 aircraft in range that would be a problem. She designated the others to take them out; she moved ahead to the target area to take care of the pursuit.

The vehicles were easy to see; the night vision on the 30MM site was very good; Liz waited until her other choppers had closed on the aircraft and ordered them to fire immediately; they did and then she started firing her 2.75 guided HE rds at the vehicles; they blew up quite nicely. She noted that the three targets in the air had also disappeared. She quickly circled the area and noted the Israeli force. 5 minutes later the rest of the Apaches began to land. She had the rest of the escort drop down low; they did not want to give any more radar returns if possible.

It took 20 minutes to land and get all the commandos strapped in; the longest 20 minutes Liz had ever lived through. Then they headed out at 0410 and booked it west. Liz once again led them; but the ride back was strangely easy; the F-15’s had pulverized everything they could find and that was enough. They got to Kut at 0515. The Commandos had lost 5 dead and 2 wounded; but not badly; the 4 crew from the two C-130’s made the loss 9 Dead and 2 wounded.

The world was horrified by the event of bombing their own city. The Iranian government announced it and that anyone that interfered would be turned into ashes. But only hours after that was announced the US and Israel in a joint statement proclaimed that the bombs were destroyed. And the Iranian ability to do it again with it. The US had fired cruise missiles on top of the Israeli attacks and had leveled most of the facilities at all three sites. Amazingly the Israeli losses were only those at Natanz.

The loss of the bombs was the final straw for the Mullah’s and the revolutionary guard began to divide and fight itself; and the rest of the country demanded the heads of the Mullah’s. Iran dissolved into full civil war. The fallout from Sirjan headed southwest on the winds and Pakistan, the UAE and Oman were in the path. People there began to panic.

After they landed Liz walked up to the Israeli Major and introduced herself.  
“General Elizabeth Parker, 161st SOAR, US Army.”

“Major Tov Hannah, 35th Brigade, Israeli Army.” 

“Congratulations Major. That was well done.”

“Thank you, General, for getting us out.”

The Carriers were taken off of the Apache’s, and transports arrived to take the Israeli’s home. Liz looked around and took the first relaxed breath in over a day. She and the others were bone tired but they wanted to go home. So they sucked it up and by 0800 they were on their way, Liz and everyone else were soon asleep as they winged home. 

Details about the mission were somewhat lacking coming from both the US and Israel. All Israel said was that they lost 9 dead and had 2 wounded and lost 2 C-130’s. The US said they had no casualties.

The talking heads were able to ferret out a fair amount; the fact that a part of the 161st had taken off suddenly was one part; the 2 F-15 Squadrons another.

The DOD just said that yes they had participated and that was all. Liz was happy to leave it at that. They were all glad they had been too far away to see the nuclear blast.

In one respect Liz was unhappy about the mission because the use of the carriers had been a success and she could see more of it in the future.

The Israeli ceremony for their dead showed what units were involved and finally they bowed to pressure and let Major Hannah speak.

“We had trained for this for over a year. It went exactly as planned. Until the aircraft were shot down. Then we took our backup way out. The Americans picked us up and that was the end of it.”

Pushed a little he simply said. “Our gratitude to General Parker and her people for getting us out.”

The DOD only admitted that the 161st had gone into Iran and gotten the Israeli’s out. And that they had had to shoot up some of the Revolutionary Guard to do it.

After the fallout finally settled to the ground, mostly in Iran but a small amount in Pakistan, the world heaved a huge sigh of relief. The fighting in Iran lasted over a month before the last of the old Guard killed themselves and the others surrendered; most of them were executed not long after. The Mullahs mostly killed themselves or were killed; no one wanted them around even for trial. Over 500,000 dead and wounded all told. Iran would be many years recovering. The nightmare that had lasted for many for 35 years was finally over.

Liz felt like she had had about enough of this sort of thing. Even if she had many fewer combat missions with the 161st then during her tours, the responsibility of taking care of her people had worn her down. She was beginning to realize that advancing beyond this level of command might not be that bad an idea after all. She began to wonder if she was burned out. Or maybe it just was that the last two missions had been basically her worst possible nightmares? True she had not lost anyone but the fact that nuclear weapons were involved in each was just too much. She had the feeling the longer she stayed at the 161st the worse the missions would get. Perhaps that was a foolish fear, but that seemed to be the pattern. She was coming around to the thought that leaving this command might not bring with it the regrets of leaving previous units. After this if she did command a unit again, she would be distanced from it; not up close and personal.

Things were quiet through August, then they had some more exercises with the British regiments here and there. The Brits had been able to spend more on their defense and thus more training money; so they no longer needed as much help. Liz looked around the base; it would be 3 years in October since they stood up. She was quite sure now that Sam Young would do a good job as her successor. She realized that she would not find it as hard to leave this position as some of her others. 

SOCOM was talking to the Army Chief of Staff.  
“So it is all set up?”

“A very special education program for a very special officer. First they will evaluate her and see what she needs to learn; then they will teach her. This is really the first time this has been tried and there was some resistance to it.”

“Same old excuses about how she must fit into the system.”

“Just about. The joke is that this sort of thing was done decades ago; a really gifted officer was given a tailored program.”

“Let me guess; it was the McNamara influence that ended it.”

“Got it in one.”

“I really hope he is roasting in hell for all the damage he did.”

On the 8th of September Liz was notified that she would be detached from command of the 161st and would report to Carlisle to attend the Army War College. Change of Command would be on 1 October. She would report 15 November.

Liz sat holding the message. Pensively she sat and thought. It was as expected; and she knew it was coming. But it was still a blow to the gut. Then another message was given to her. The Apache she had been using would be demilled and would be taken to the Smithsonian to hang with other famous aircraft. She smiled at that. She liked it. She got up and walked out of her office and went home early that day.

Max was surprised as Liz walked in and kissed him.  
“Got the message today. Change of Command 1 October and report to Carlisle 15 November. Get this: they are going to shell out my Apache and have it hang in the Smithsonian.”

“Not so bad, is it?”

“It is still a blow to lose the Regiment, but it is time.”

The next day she announced it to her command. Then in the next week she took a quick tour of the British Regiments that she had worked with over the three years she had been there. The Air Vice Marshal was about to retire and they reminisced.  
“General you have had quite a bit of influence. I notice many training exercises are no longer run like theatre plays; every scene scripted to the last detail.”

“I guess that is good. I am going to miss you and all the regiments and officers and men I have worked with.”

“They and I will miss you.”

Liz was informed that the Parliament had given her a Commendation of Appreciation; and the Queen had signed a Royal Proclamation in appreciation as well.

On 1 October 2017 she stood with the honor guard and relinquished command to newly promoted full Colonel Sam Young.

The day before she had walked around the base one last time and said goodbye to many she had gotten to know so well.

Her Apache had already been sent away to be stripped of its engines and electronics. By the beginning of the year it would be hanging with other very famous aircraft. She had flown it one last time and had found herself crying when she had landed it.

The next day she and her family boarded a C-20 specifically sent for her. The entire Regiment and an Honor Guard from every active British Army and Royal Marine regiment, plus the SAS and SBS lined the runway. She waved as she got into the jet and sat down. She was finding it very hard to not cry.

There were government quarters at Carlisle that they would be staying in. It had been decided that the children would not attend school; James was big for his age and Aliya was already a High School senior. When they got her next posting they would resume schooling at a public school for James and a college for Aliya. Her three good friends from Campbell would be attending the University of Tennessee starting the next year and Liz was sure that was where Aliya would want to go. James would be home schooled for the year. Aliya would be boning up on things ready for college; she had already taken her SATs and had done very well indeed.

Liz was able to put aside her feelings about leaving her Regiment by spending time with her mother and her friends. That helped a lot.

After a week with her mother, Liz went to stay with Maria for a week and see her friends. Just what she needed.

The first night was a Friday night and they had an old fashioned slumber party.

Liz looked around and noted that none of them had appeared to age that much; but then they were all still young. She was the youngest at 34; the rest were only a year or so older.

Tess started first.  
“So Liz, how does it feel to be going back to school?”

“Weird. I have been told they are constructing a special curriculum for me. First time that has been done in a long time.”

Maria snorted. “They better make it special; I am trying to think of who could be arrogant enough to think they can teach you anything about leadership.”

The others laughed at that. Liz smiled in appreciation, but was serious.  
“I am going to have to learn how to stand back and send people out to fight and die. Before I was always right there with them; taking the risks. It is going to be very hard for me.”

Isabelle smiled softly. “For you it will be. It will be a big adjustment.”

Maria smiled then leaned forward. “OK, Liz spill your guts. You must have some real doozies saved up.”

The other two leaned forward in anticipation. Liz sighed but decided some things could be said to them.  
“Remember just before I went to the 160th I had to rebuild the Campbell ASP and Ordnance company again?”

They all nodded. “Well here is what really happened…”

They were all agog. Maria whistled. “That never got out. Amazing.”

Liz shared a few other things but nothing as deep and dark as that. It was a good time and after the emotional leaving of the 161st she needed this.

She spent a couple of days in Nashville visiting the Crew and Posse and had a fun time. When that was done she headed out to get back to her family who had been staying with her mother and Ted. Then they headed to Carlisle. Liz wanted to get in and settle down then look around Gettysburg as she had wanted to for a long time.

Liz looked around as she stood where Pickett’s Charge had started and looked towards where its goal had been. She tried to imagine what it must have been like to march towards that point almost a mile away with artillery tearing holes through the formations. She had gone to Little Round Top and looked over that; but this hit much harder. She marveled at their bravery. It was a little known fact that at least one woman had participated in this charge. She and her husband had stayed and fought together for over a year; they were found only a short distance from the objective; the clump of trees. Hand in hand; in death as in life. She looked around and thought about that and many other things.

The VIP quarters at Carlisle were very nice and Liz certainly had no complaints.

She decided to check in; realizing that as a General Officer she needed to do things a little differently she called in and found that the Commanding General wanted to see her at her convenience. THAT was interesting since he was a Major General. She had looked up his record and he had been a grunt; commanded a company and a Battalion. And a brigade in Afghanistan. She had just missed him as she looked at the dates. Well he looked like someone that could teach her some things. She checked what uniform to wear and found that for this she could wear ASU B, with slacks which she liked better.

General Barton was very much looking forward to meeting General Parker. They did not have many students that were Generals. Calling her a student was frankly a little uncomfortable for him. He had had an excellent career but nothing compared to hers. This was going to be a very different situation.

Liz took a deep breath and walked in the main building returning salutes as she walked down the hall. Luckily there were not too many people around as she walked into the main offices. She was quickly escorted right to the Commandants office.

Even though he knew as everyone else did that Elizabeth Parker was small it still amazed him how small. Yet her presence as she walked in the door was undeniable. He had never met the like.  
“Sit down, General.”

“Thank you, General.” And she gave him small smile.

“Absurd. Call me Tom.”

“Call me Liz.”

They both grinned.

“I missed you by about a month getting in country after you left the second time. Even then I had heard about you. Frankly was hoping they would keep you around. I know you have heard this but it’s coming from me as well; it was simply believed that you kept people alive.”

Liz blushed slightly. “Thank You Tom. That became a huge burden. Especially my last tour. It got very heavy.”

“I cannot imagine. Liz, let’s get something straight. I have had a very good career and have done well. But you are someone that is rocket propelled. And you have earned everything you got the hard way. I can speak for myself and if anyone says otherwise in this facility I will have their hide but this is straight. No one here has a thing they can teach you about leadership. We are not even going to try. What we are going to do is interview you intensively and see where you need to learn things. And in the next 10 months we are going to do our best to fill in those gaps.”

Liz nodded. “That is good to hear. I know there are a lot of things like systems management and that sort of thing that I need to learn. If I stay in I need to know the lingo and such. I am guessing that I get special treatment not only because of my record but the fact I have no college experience at all.”

“That is true. But as it has been made screamingly clear by your record, college is not everything. That mindset was one of the things that needed to be changed and the last SECDEF and the Current one have made that clear. That was one of the reasons I was chosen because I am one of those that think college is not for everyone and there are some leaders such as yourself that are born and you damn well make room in your army for one.” 

Liz blushed a little more and he grinned.

“You went through OCS and Aviation School then the preparation for SOAR, so frankly to say that you have not gone through higher education is bull. Anyway, if you are willing to start I will have my Chief of Staff arrange the interviews. This will probably take about a week.”

Liz blinked at that. “Wow, I guess you are being thorough.”

“That is MY job.”

And the next day she talked to his Chief of Staff who was a brisk no nonsense type.  
“General, it is our job to get you ready for senior commands. Simple as that. We have a responsibility to prepare you and frankly quite a few of us are looking forward to it. Your kind of talent does not come along very often. I look upon you as a blue chip recruit who knows a lot but needs to learn more.”

After five days of interviews Liz was a little wrung out but thought they had been really thorough and felt ok with it.

The General chaired the meeting as his entire senior faculty attended.  
“OK. Let us get the overview from Colonel Tower.” 

“General Parker is without serious weakness. Simple as that. She has the entire leadership package in a way that I have not encountered before. It should not be a surprise with her record but still I was. I suggest we give her a basic ground tactics and strategy tutorial, and I am willing to bet she will eat that right up. With the way she came up with tactics in the air I see no reason she cannot do it on the ground. Logistics support and the basics there are next. Realistically there is nothing aviation related that she does not know probably better than anyone here so we will not waste our time. Everyone that interviewed her absolutely agree that we can also ignore all leadership courses. Diplomatic niceties will be something we can brush through with a basic course in. Systems management is the one area she really lacks knowledge in and will need the full course. Now the basic courses as regards sea power I would also recommend. The Joint Services department can handle that. Considering how much she has worked with other nation’s services that area can also be ignored. That is pretty much it.”

The General looked around. “Anything anyone wants to add?”

There were no comments.

“Very well then, Colonel Tower how long will this last?”

“8 months sir.”

“Very good. Let us get started – frankly people we might very well be judged by how she does and what she says about us in the future. If something goes wrong I seriously doubt it will be her fault.”

Liz would look back and call the next 8 months some of the most exhausting of her life; in some cases tougher than Aviation school was. She was poked and prodded and stretched like salt water taffy sometimes. Sometimes the complexities of Systems management almost beat her; but with her usual grit and fire managed to lick it as well.

Her favorite parts were Ground tactics and strategy and the Applications of Sea Power. Space Command was interesting but not that tough. Diplomacy was almost boring. She had gotten a lot of experience at that as it was. Logistics interested her; but she was frankly of the mind that they took themselves way too seriously when the bottom line was moving item A to point B when it was needed. And have it ready when it was needed. Strategic planning and thinking was interesting; tying what happened in one part of the world with other parts elsewhere. Staff Planning and Management was also interesting but frankly she thought they were a little behind the curve on that one. Too rigid. General Barton had specifically asked her to take notes on what she thought were weaknesses in the courses she was taking and she did.

In late July, General Barton and Colonel Tower reviewed the progress of their prize student.  
“Systems management was the one area that she did not do outstanding in; but still very well. Everything else she excelled in. Ground tactics and strategy was an area she really shined in; no surprise since tactical has always been an area she was a master of. Staff planning and management – that area made me think she was humoring us. I will be very interested to read her evaluation there. The rest of the courses extremely well. While perhaps not a 4.0, not far off.”

“The Vice Chief of Staff for Personnel wants this evaluation fast; they want to make the pick for her next position soon.”

“Any ideas where they are sending her, sir?”

“None. Clearly high profile but I have no idea. Have to assume it is a staff position somewhere but where?”

“SOCOM would love to get her back.”

“Forget it; she needs to spend some time back with us regular folk for a while.” 

The First week in August Liz handed her course evaluations in to the Colonel and later that day he went over them with the General.  
“She has a wicked sense of humor; she manages to hide it but these evaluations are funny as all hell.”

“But very pointed; and in a couple of places downright brutal. Staff Management really got reamed.”

“Not surprising; I think that course needs reorganizing.”

Liz was presented with a special Diploma that basically said ‘done with her’ and that tickled her. 

The next week she was summoned to see the Vice Chief of Staff for Personnel.

The Pentagon always depressed her; even with the 50% cuts that had been done 5 years ago she still felt the place was bloated.

General Larson greeted her and had his aide close the door to his office.  
“General Parker, your transcript from the War College is rather glowing, but should come as no surprise. I have submitted your name as a candidate for several posts but the Chief of Staff wanted to read this first. He will contact you when he has made a decision.”

Liz raised an eyebrow. “Is that the usual procedure, Sir?”

“No it is not but you are not the usual brigadier so it is not that surprising. I have no doubt each of the major commands have put in a bid to grab you for their own so he might be doing some horse trading.”

Liz sighed. “So I might have my teeth examined?”

He cracked a smile. “Would not surprise me. But I would expect a decision within a few days.”

3 days later she was called back to the Commandants office. He handed her a message.  
“This surprises me, but then maybe not.”

Liz looked at the message and it announced that Elizabeth Parker, Brigadier General (P) was nominated for command of the 101st Airborne Division.  
Her mouth dropped open and she looked at the General and he grinned. “The Alternate promotion board was going to do it but the regular one beat them to the punch. I think they are trying to show that they get it.” 

Liz was in a bit of a daze as she got back to her quarters. Max had been working part time at the War College in their library; he liked it there. Aliya had been accepted to the University of Tennessee and was due to start there in a few weeks and she was spending the weekend with Susan in Nashville to figure things out. James was playing with some of the kids of some of the other officers who were taking classes there. They had in the end sent him to school there at the college which was set up for this.

Max saw Liz come in and went to her.  
“Honey, what is it?”  
She blinked and looked at him.  
“I am the next commander of the 101st Airborne. I am getting my second star in October and assuming command then.”

Max was dumbfounded.


	23. Speak Softly and Carry a Large BRICK

Liz took two weeks leave and spent it with her mother and her friends then saw Aliya installed at the University of Tennessee. Her three old friends were all there as well so it was like homecoming for Aliya and Liz was glad to see it.

Max had contacted the contractor he had worked with before at Campbell and got hired on as supervisor of their airfield maintenance crew. Liz had been told that her appointment would be announced on September 1, with change of Command October 1. She would formally get her second star September 30 at a ceremony at SOCOM HQ in Florida.

The Commanding Generals house at Campbell was quite plush; Liz was amused at it; it was really almost a museum as well. Way too big for just her, Max and James. They got James enrolled in school; he would be starting 3rd grade. He was an outgoing cheerful sort and Liz was glad; being an Army brat he needed to be. 

Liz decided to seek out and talk to the 101st General who had been in command when the ASP mess had hit. She wanted to talk to a division commander who had been there and done that.

Retired Major General Al Watson had not gone to work for a Defense Contractor; he did not need the money and frankly liked to golf; besides he did not like contractors on general principals. So when he got a call from General Parker wanting to talk to him he was intrigued.

He had retired to Florida near Jacksonville. His wife worked part time as a volunteer and he was slowly working on a book about army life. He was content so when he opened the door and saw the petite figure of the former Major Parker he was very interested in what she had to say.

“First off since I am no longer in call me Al, and everyone I have heard about says you like to be called Liz.”

“Works for me Al.”

“So why are you here talking to an old retired general?”

“You commanded a division. Specifically the 101st. On 1 October I take command. I need to talk to someone who has been there and done that.”

He sat back and blinked. This was unusual; not often someone who has been only in aviation gets command of a Division. But then she was not just someone.  
“This is a test for you. To see if you can make the transition. Many very good commanders at lower levels do not do as well once they reach brigade or Division command. And so on. They want to find out.”

“Probably. Makes sense. Anyway I needed to talk to a former division commander and I thought of you.”

“Why me? I was not exactly considered a success since I was retired right after that command.”

“And we both know why. The ones to blame in that fiasco besides the four criminals was the G4 and former Base Commander who SHOULD have caught it. You and the others were collateral damage. Same with the SF G4 who also should have caught it. Those three should have been the ones to carry the can. Instead they got you and the current Base Commander, the CID Commander and the SF commander. And that was really not right.”

“That is the way the system works.”

“Bullshit. I have seen other screw-ups that did not take that kind of toll. Not as bad but still some went out smelling like a rose when they should not have.”

“Too high level. I understood at the time. Still do. Accountability needed to go higher; did not matter that I did not know; I should have been in better contact with my soldiers. If I had I would have suspected something. My Advice to you is to do what I have heard you did while commanding the 161st and while being that Brigade Commander in Afghanistan. Poke around and talk to the grunts down at the real work areas.”

“Technically I was Brigade XO.”

“To turn it back on you, Bullshit. You commanded that Brigade and everyone knows it.”

“OK. But I need more advice than that.”

“As a division commander you do have to step back most of the time; you cannot be as hands on as you were. My mistake was that I got caught up in all the meetings and BS at HQ and never really got around to talk to people. You have to strike a balance. You are much more likely to do that too much then not enough. So you will have to watch it. In one respect it will be easier since you probably will not see any of your brigades deploy unless something comes up. It has been only 5 years since we were deploying one or two brigades if not the whole division. Constantly. That was a huge problem for a division commander. I personally think that if we get into that situation again something has to be done better than we did last time.”

“Like what?”

“To start with, deploy a whole division if you can; do not take one brigade out of three different divisions. I think that was a mistake. I know why they did it but it was still a mistake. Or if you cannot do that have one brigade at a time relieve the next; continuity is the key. We never had that. You never knew if you were going to Iraq or Afghanistan or where in which place.”

Liz was thoughtful. She had not really thought about it but he was right. This was the sort of thing she had to learn.  
“I had not thought of that but you are right. This is an example of why I wanted to talk to you. I need to get a wider view of things and I really had not figured that out.”

“You would have.”

“Maybe not in time enough to not make a big mistake. I have been very lucky in my commanders. There never has been one I did not respect or learn something from.”

“You were lucky. But then again I can only recall a couple that I did not respect so I guess maybe the situation was not as bad as we thought it was.” 

“True. But then again I was really with pretty elite units for most of my career; so maybe I have not seen the whole picture.”

“You have seen the worst. The ASP mess and that NG brigade fiasco. So I don’t think you have had exactly as easy a path as some might think.”

Liz nodded thoughtfully. “Maybe. What do you think of the latest reorganization plan?”

He snorted. “About time. The whole idea that we were going to a brigade structure with divisions and corps as coat holders was dumb. It was a misreading of the situation that we found ourselves in with Iraq and Afghanistan going on at the same time. What that ended up doing was putting the brigades out there without enough oversight; and that is never good. For a while there I heard from some of the other Generals I knew who commanded divisions; they felt that they had very little control and could not do much to fix problems. It took the army years to figure that out.”

Liz nodded. There indeed had been some problems; and finally just little more than a year ago it was admitted and the DOD had ordered the Army to get its act back together. Brigades would still be able to deploy separately, but they would still be firmly tethered by their division commands. The Sustainment Brigades had been reformed and were once again a division asset. That way they could deploy more with a brigade if it needed it; instead of the brigade having to make do with what it had originally. Depending on where the brigade went that could have a big effect on its ability to maintain itself and its capability. That of course put more pressure on Division Command to make the call correctly; but that is the way it should be.   
“I guess I should be grateful; there is nothing worse than seeing something going wrong and not being able to do a thing about it.”

They talked for more than two hours and the General’s wife got in and was surprised to see who he was talking to.  
“My stars, you are tiny!”

Al laughed hard. “That is what just about everyone thinks the first time they meet her. At least until she whaps them upside the head with a 2 X 4.” 

Liz really enjoyed that time and stayed for dinner after Jenny, his wife, insisted.  
She left that evening realizing she had made two more friends; that made it a very good day.

Two days later the announcement was made and it generated a fair amount of comment.

“Today the Department of Defense announced that Brigadier General Elizabeth Parker will be promoted to Major General and will assume command of the 101st Airborne Division based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. General Parker is perhaps the most famous current military officer due to her exploits in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. She returns to Fort Campbell after a previous assignment there while first as a member of the 101st Aviation Brigade and later as part of the 160th SOAR before she stood up and commanded the 161st SOAR in Scotland. General Parker has a number of firsts and this is another; the first female Commander of a US Army Division.”

The outgoing general who would be moving to deputy commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps had gotten notified some time earlier but had kept quiet. His deputy commanders came in to talk to him.  
“Sir, have you heard?”

“Of course. You two better have your chin straps tight or Doberman will bite your heads off.”

The two brigadier generals look at each other than at him.  
“Sir is she coming in to clean house?”

“Because that frankly is her rep. They bring her in to start new units or clean up old ones in trouble.”

“Not as far as I know. She is the rising star of the US Military and this is a fairly high profile position. Makes sense to me. Now you two will find yourselves in deep shit if you screw up. You might remember that.”

Liz had told the Posse and Crew at a get together about her new command and they had laughed their asses off.  
“First time that I wish I was back in to watch you tear a whole division a new one.”   
Said Ellen.

“I am willing to bet there are a number of officers scared shitless right now.”  
Said Jesse.

“You guys make me sound like Attila the Hun. I am not that bad.”

Which got a round of even bigger laughs.

Maria and the others were also laughing.   
“Chica, those poor troopers have no idea what is about to hit them.”

Liz looked over the command situation; she would inherit the staff; due to illness the last general had come in mid-way and had changed out the staff last year. So they would be settled in. She would see if they were good enough; Liz was determined to make sure that she accepted nothing less than the best.  
Brigadier General Anthony Roberts was deputy division commander for Operations and senior to Brigadier General Adam Jones who was deputy commander for Support. Colonel Jack Forrest was Chief of Staff. She noted that the Division Sergeant Major was retiring. And that a new one had not been appointed. She sat back and thought then made a call.

Command Sgt Major Sid Winston answered his phone. As the Sgt Major of the 1 St Aviation Brigade at Ft Riley he was fairly busy. He had come to the Brigade three years ago after being promoted from Battalion Sgt Major to Brigade Sgt Major. This was not a bad posting but sometimes he felt he wanted more.  
“Sgt Major Winston.”

“Yo, Sid. How is your hammer hanging?” Came a familiar female voice.  
A big grin came out.  
“Well, short stuff. Heard you are getting the 101st.”

“Shore enough. I need a Division Sgt Major. Interested?”

Sid blinked. He would normally have another few years before rating a division posting. But then she tended to get what she wanted.  
“Why not? Kind of miss the strange and weird that is Campbell.” 

“Good. I am inheriting the rest of the staff so I want at least one there that knows me and what I expect. And who can keep his eyes and ears open.”

“Well then, General, you have yourself a Sgt Major.”

“Good. I will talk to whoever and get your orders cut ASAP. How long would it take you?”

“Two weeks.”

“Good. See ya.”

Nancy, Sid’s wife, knew something was up as soon as he came through the door.  
“OK. What is the what?”

“Liz Parker just asked me to be her Division Sgt Major.”

“Wow. You are not due for a few years.”

“That has never stopped her. I said we can get there in two weeks, in time for the change of command.”

“No problem, but will the orders come that fast?”

“With her, definitely.”

Liz called the personnel section and made it clear she wanted those orders cut immediately.  
“General, it is not that simple.”

“Yes it is. Make it happen.” 

“What is it?”

“General Parker wants this guy as her division sgt major.”

“So what is the problem?”

Liz made a point of not wandering around the 101st before her assumption of command. She thought that was impolite and since they were not at war at the moment not necessary. However she had no compunctions about visiting others there.

“Holy Shit! Look who is coming.”

“Get in there and warn everyone Doberman is prowling.”

Liz walked in the HQ of the 160th and looked around. “At ease, you rotorheads.”

She headed into the Commanders office and found him on the phone; she walked in as he was looking at something behind him and he put the phone down to realize she was sitting at the chair in front of his desk. He started to stand and she waved him down.  
“Joe, take it easy. This is not official; I am just wandering around reacquainting myself. Nuts when you were in my Battalion you were not worried about appearances so why worry now?”

“That was then and this is now that is why. I mean you have to start getting dignity somewhere. I chose here.”

“Oh, well if that is what floats your boat. How are you doing?”

“Getting used to it. But unlike you I really cannot keep flying which sucks. How in the world did you manage to do it?”

“Well to start with I was in Scotland and that helped; then I had a top XO who was a great ADMIN guy who took care of a lot of that. And finally since I was the one that stood it up I could do pretty much what I wanted. But I was really lucky in a lot of ways.”

“I guess. But then you remember the fun and games here a couple years ago.”

“Well that is what happens when you get a dud commander; the whole unit goes down the Calcutta Crapper. But you guys got it together in the end.”

“Yeah after you kicked our butts hard enough. Actually that is what ended up putting me here; your evaluation pushed me up to Major faster than what it would have been; then when the last commander went bad I got picked and groomed for this. I really doubted I had the experience; luckily working under the old man for almost a year helped a lot. We are in good shape; I got a training officer almost as mean as you and that is what is important when you are not getting shot at.”

“Way too many people do not get how important training officers are.”

“Well that is not a problem here. So you just visiting or looking to poach?”

“Already did that to the 1st Aviation Brigade at Riley; I took their sgt major for the division. Sid Winston.”

“You really want a mean one.”

“With no deployments likely any time soon, this division will get soft if it is not pushed in training and otherwise; I can do the training part but a top Sgt Major is vital to keeping people on their toes. As long as it is a Sgt Major who realizes that is important and his job. I know some do not get that.”

“Yeah, the Sgt Major we got right after you left was not a good one. We wanted to get Sid but he got snapped up after he left the command sgt major school.” 

“So have the fly boys got over being butt stroked yet?”

“Nope. The Swab Jockeys wanted to take us on a carrier and do it in the middle of the ocean but SOCOM told them to get stuffed. Fly boys are just pouting.”

Liz stuck around a while to talk then headed over to 5th Group.

She noted they were not as surprised; word must have gotten around.

The Group Commander greeted her.  
“So general, want to look at our ASP?”

Liz grinned. “Why not?”

The Group commander was rather fiendish as he had not warned the ASP.  
They walked in and pretty much panicked them. Liz grinned evilly and asked to see the SOP’s. Then asked some tough questions. They seemed reasonably competent and Liz got no bad vibes. She then asked to see their Cat 1 mags.

They looked good and she noted that all the Cat 1 rds were banded to pallets.  
She looked around. “Looks pretty good. When were you last inspected?”

“6 months ago. From what I understand they took your suggestions to heart and now have random inspections with only a month of warning.”

Liz was glad to hear that; she was certain that lack of oversight contributed significantly to problems in support units. Just like in line units. 

“So she is poking around the 160th and 5th Group.”

“Yes sir.”

“But not any part of the 101st?”

“No sir.”

“That is very polite of her.”

“Yes sir.”

Liz got permission to fly her family to see her get promoted in Florida. 

It was a fairly short ceremony but a few of her friends made it including a certain congressman.  
“So, how do you like staying in?’

“It seems like it will be OK. We shall see down the road but so far so good. I read where you are thinking of retiring?”

“Been in Congress 24 years. Thinking about it but probably not yet.”

“I have to admit knowing you were around has helped. Probably kept some people off of my back as well.”

“Could be. But I doubt you need my help anymore. You have reached the level where you have clout of your own not connected to anyone else.”

“I am not going to be falsely modest; I know that is true. Well I am determined to go as far as I can without selling out. So far I have been able to.”

“I hope that you can keep that up.”

Nancy brushed some tears from her eyes and leaned against Ted.  
“Sometimes I cannot believe what has happened in her life.

“She can’t either.”

Meanwhile in Hollywood there was a push to have a bio made on Elizabeth Parker. The anti-military crowd did not like it but the women’s groups did. The problem they all had was that she refused to talk to reporters and that gave them little to build on.   
“Before we can do it well we need to be able to have a long talk with her. Have you tried talking to her friends?”

“They are all ex-military and will not give us the time of day. Let’s face it; the Military hates our guts and spits on us every chance they get and who can blame them after the way Hollywood has treated them over the years. For every Saving Private Ryan there are two or three others that trash them. And for those that say so what, how many bios are made of Hollywood? The few that have been are usually white washes.”

“I don’t care about the past. This woman has an incredible story that is begging to be told. The real military haters have tried to find something bad on her and they have never been able to get a thing. I mean ZERO, NADA, NOTHING. No one should be this clean but she is.” 

“Yeah. I am trying to remember who it was; one of the morons that used to hang around that fat slob Michael Moore, I think. Anyway he really tried his hardest to dig up dirt on her and could find nothing at all. Spent almost a year on it back in 2015 and came up with nothing. Heard someone talking about it and he was just about ready to be committed he was so depressed. He was so sure that no Hero is really a hero; they are all druggies or child abusers or racists or something like that. Then he finds out that she is the real deal. And what was worse for him was that he came across others who were almost as clean. Just blew his whole world view. Don’t think he has worked since.” 

“Hollywood is so hung up on the so called flawed hero’s that are so messed up they should never be outside of an asylum that when a real one comes along we cannot handle it.”

The next day in a fairly elaborate ceremony Major General Elizabeth Parker assumed command of the 101st Airborne Division. That afternoon she scheduled a series of meetings with the officers and enlisted men of each brigade over the next week. Starting the next day at 0800 and going every two hours; officers first then enlisted men next. 7 brigades plus the Headquarters Battalion meant 16 meetings. She had 4 per day for 4 days. Then she proceeded to look around the entire divisional area. From the ASP to the Aviation Brigade to the Comm Center and everything between. This took another 3 days. Everywhere she went she had a staff officer taking notes.

The meetings Liz conducted were get to know you type meetings; she made it plain that she would have occasional bitch sessions for them to air their gripes.  
“The 101st has a record second to none. It is my job to keep that up. I will do whatever is necessary. But I have to know about problems in order to fix them. For the enlisted men Command Sergeant Major Winston is your contact. For officers my Chief of Staff Colonel Forrest. They will both have open door policies. Let me make one thing very clear. Mistakes will be made by everyone including me; as long as we learn from them we will be OK. But anyone that repeats a mistake is on his way out. And this above all I want you to think about. Anyone that lies to me is gone immediately. Anyone that covers something up will not only be gone but if I have anything to do with it will do time. Good day and dismissed.”

After thoroughly going through the installation and all the attached units, Liz then called a meeting of all Brigade Commanders, plus the commander of the Headquarters Battalion. 1-4 Brigades, the 101st and 159th Aviation Brigades, and the 101st Sustainment Brigade. Her staff as well. She looked around the room and thought just how far she had come from that first day of Basic Training. Then shook it off and got done to business.

“As I told the units, my goal is to have the best division in the World. Not just the US Army. To do that means that is has to be ready. At all times. First thing on the agenda is that we make sure we all know which Brigade is the Alert Brigade when. With no deployments in the future as far as we can tell at this time, as of next month the 2nd BCT will be the alert brigade. The 101st and 159th will trade off being the Aviation Alert Brigade. Any questions?”

There was a bit of a stir and finally the 1st BCT commander spoke.  
“General, with the exception of deployments, the 1st has been the Alert Brigade for over 15 years.”

“So?”

He did not know how to respond to that.

Liz saw the looks around the table and decided to have mercy on them.  
“We share the load. Each Brigade will spend 3 months on Alert status and 9 months off. That will be the predictable part of this situation. What will not be predictable are the no notice inspections I will be doing as well as no notice exercises. Those of course will be for the non-alert brigades. But I will stage some for the Alert Brigades as well. The difference will be that you guys will get a 24 hr notice. Being on alert should have some bennies.” 

She looked at her watch. “And as of right now the 1st BCT has 24 hours’ notice that there will be an exercise. One hour prior to the start you will get the mission statement.”

There were more looks around the room; akin to ‘What are we going to do?’

She looked around the room. “Anyone who wants a transfer out of this division will get it no questions asked. That will be the division policy.”

She then went down a list of things she expected of them. She ended the meeting 30 minutes later. She got up and walked out of the room leaving them all there standing. Finally the Deputy Division commanders looked at each other and both said. “Oh, shit.”

As promised the 1 BCT got its exercise that put it in choppers and moved them to the training site where a battalion of the 4th BCT was dug in waiting for them.

The exercise lasted until dark when Liz called it off. The 1st BCT, in the opinion of the umpires Liz had in place, had not completely dislodged the Battalion. Liz told everyone to get back and get rest; at 0800 the 1st BCT would get its critique.

The Amphitheater had been built so that a whole brigade could fit in it. Liz walked out at exactly 0800 as the Brigade jumped to its feet.

“Be seated.”

She looked around at them.  
“You did not stink. That is about the best I can say. You certainly did not perform like the Alert Brigade should; let alone like a brigade of the 101st should. You had over 8 hours to dislodge that battalion and you did not get it done. You were sloppy and uncoordinated. Needless to say there will be another quite soon. Your Brigade commander will now take over.” And she walked out. 

“She certainly hit the ground running.”

“Yes sir.”

“Why was the 1st BCT the only one on alert?”

“Only answer I can find was tradition.”

“Well it was a dumb one.”

“Yes sir.”

The XVIII Airborne Corps commander sat back and mused. “She certainly is shaking things up. You can hear the cries and screams from there already.”

“Yes sir. I think it is safe to say they will not be complacent.”

After Liz left the Brigade Commander slowly walked to the podium.   
“Not much to say, is there people? I have to disagree with the General. We did stink. She was being nice to us, since this was the first time with her. I can tell you people one thing for certain. You will be working for a while.”

The two Deputy Commanders sucked it up and went into the General’s office. Liz nodded to them as they took the bare chairs sitting in front of her desk. Gone were the plush ones of the past. Another indication that this was a new regime.  
“I cut the two of you out for a simple reason. I wanted to see how everyone would react. That will not happen again. But I want to make one thing clear; if I find out that news of a no notice gets out I will have someone’s head. There will be no second chances. There are some things I will not give anyone a second chance on and that is one. Now onto business. What did you two think of the exercise?”

Operations was first. “You said it, sir. Sloppy and uncoordinated. I was very surprised at that.”

Support nodded. “They were not ready sir. They were ready to move but they were not ready to fight. They did not have the time they usually have while deploying to plan and get ready and it showed.”

“And now you know the purpose of the no notice.”

They both nodded. “In the future it will be operations duty to coordinate the no notice and the 24 hour notice exercises. But mark this: I will have people watching to make sure no friends get warning calls. If that happens whoever does the calling is out of this division that same day. No appeals, no reprieves. Is that understood?”

“Yes sir.”

A while later Sid came in and closed the door.  
“So put the fear of Doberman into those two yet?”

She grinned. An impartial observer would have noted blood dripping from her fangs.  
“I think they are now. So what did you think of that exercise?”

“For a pretty simple and basic one I was surprised they did not do better. But that battalion had done a very good job of preparing and picked the best ground around for a defensive stand.”

“I agree. That is why they will get a 3 day holiday from duty starting tomorrow. I will announce it when I speak to them in an hour.”

Sid blinked then grinned. “Now that is motivation.”

“Ya.”

They both grinned then Liz got serious.  
“Overall is this division as soft as I think it is?”

“Yes. I think it is clear why they sent you. The very interesting part is that no one I know of suspected it was soft.”

Liz walked into the critique of the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th BCT and nodded at them. “Be seated.”

She looked around. “Damn good job. Any nits I pick would be frankly bitching just to be bitching. So this is what I am going to do. From Midnight tonight for 72 hours this battalion is off duty. Have fun people.”

They jumped up and yelled “Currahee!” And she waved and walked out.

The first two weeks set the tone. One week later Liz let operations set up another 24 hr exercise; this time with the 2nd Battalion of the 506th. The 1st BCT did much better and dislodged the battalion after 6 hours; destroying it by the umpires judgment. Liz walked into the critique.

“Not all there yet but a huge improvement. 1st BCT will get a 48 hour no duty period next month once you are off alert status. Choose when and you will get it.”

She went to the 2nd Battalions critique. “You did well against a unit that was butt hurt and wanted revenge. You still held for 6 hours against 3-1 odds. During daytime. So you will get 48 hours off starting midnight tonight.  
The Battalion, stunned that they were getting props, yelled “Currahee!”

Liz every month went through the division building by building. Poking her head in and talking to people. Sid acted as her Deep Throat and warned her of problems. She wasted no time in rousting the Sustainment Brigade transportation Battalion for low operational status. She made it clear to the Battalion and Brigade commander that they had 30 days to make it better or they were both out.

Three months in she was talking to Sid.  
“OK, how are things going?”

“Much better but not all there yet. We have some dead wood to chop.”

“They got better but they are slipping again, right?” referring to the Transportation Battalion.

“Yes, sir.”

“The Battalion commander?”

“And two of the company commanders. Just not going to cut it.”

“I had hoped they would shape up, but so be it. I want to give the Brigade commander a little more time to do it himself; and the Deputy for Sustainment to push it. If they don’t then they are gone as well.”

Sid sighed. Liz was hard core, but right.

“I have been approached to run a divisional exercise against the Big Red One at the NTC.”

“Wow. That is major league.’

“Yep. They want to do it in 90 days.”

“I imagine the ops guys will shit a brick with that little warning but I agree.”

“That is why they are only going to get 30 days. I got FORSCOM to agree.”

Looking at Sid she had to smile. She remembered the meeting the day before with FORSCOM. It had been her, XVIII Airborne Corps commander and FORSCOM and TRADOC. TRADOC started it.

“General Parker, it has been proposed to have a divisional exercise at the NTC with the 101st and 1st ID. We are looking at scheduling it for June.”

Liz looked at them. “How about 30 days’ notice, sir?”

He looked at her as did the others. “30 Days?”

“Sir, with the exception of the second Iraq campaign, when have we gotten 90 days warning of anything? 30 days even but I am trying to be reasonable.”

XVIII was grinning at the other two. He was the only one there not surprised by her response. TRADOC shook his head. “That is too short.”

Liz looked at him. “Why?”

He opened his mouth then closed it. FORSCOM had a small smile. “I agree, 30 days.” Leaving TRADOC with nothing to say.

Liz then pushed it. “Sir, I request that this not be mentioned outside of this room until the 30 days. If we are going to be serious it cannot leak; it would defeat the whole purpose.” She was addressing this to FORSCOM since it was his office. He nodded, as did XVIII and finally TRADOC, who still looked gob smacked. The meeting was over shortly after and TRADOC left first. The other two looked at Liz.

“I do not think he was prepared for this.” Came from FORSCOM.

“I KNOW he was not prepared for this.” Came from XVII.

“Will he keep his mouth shut?” was Liz’s blunt question. FORSCOM nodded. 

“He will. It would be his ass if he blabs. Frankly I do not think he is the man for that job.” 

Sid took a minute to adjust and then smiled softly. “From what I have heard TRADOC must have had a cow with a virtual no warning like that. To him 30 days notice is no warning.”

“FORSCOM flat out said he does not think he is the man for the job.”

“From what I have heard and seen that is true.”

The next week Liz decided to talk to someone about her problem.  
“General Watson, I have a problem and I need the advice of someone who has been in command of a division recently.”

“That was some years ago.”

“Maybe so but you were there. Here is my problem. The sustainment brigades Transportation battalion has two weak company commanders. Neither the Battalion, Brigade or Deputy for Support has taken action. I raised hell when I first took over about low operational status and things got better for a while then are falling back. This has been going on for almost 2 months. I am about to chop all of them but I wanted your advice before I got out my ax.”

“You are absolutely certain about this?’

“Yes sir.”

He sighed. “Then you really have no choice, do you?”

“I was going to do it but I guess I still have a little doubt about being a divisional commander.”

“From everything I have heard you are doing a superb job. Better than I did easily. No time for doubts; if you have a weakness and those above them know about it and have not taken action then you really have no choice.”

“Thank You General.”

Liz put down the phone and made a call to the XVIII.

“General Johnson, I have a problem.”

XVIII put down his phone and thought for a moment then called in his Chief Of Staff. When he came in and closed the door at a motion from the General he sat down and waited with expectation.

“General Parker is going to roll her Deputy Assistant Division Commander for Support, her Sustainment Brigade Commander, her Transportation Battalion Commander, and two Transportation company commanders. They have a weakness down there and there has been nothing done about it. They know about it since she raised hell about it the first month; it got better but is sinking again. Low operational status.”

“My God. Everything we have heard says that division is doing so well.”

“Yes in its combat areas. But you know a lot of times that is where the weakness of good divisions usually are. But she certainly is taking action. And justifiably so; the status is clearly not good and has been sinking lately.”

“So what do we do?”

“She wanted transfers rather than relief for cause. Though in this case everyone will know it’s one and the same.”

“Maybe she is getting soft?” clearly sarcasm.

“Not likely. So I need you to see what is available for them.”

“Yes sir. Will get right on it.”

3 days later he came in. “I have the positions for them sir. Overall not too bad.”

“Best we can do. Let her know.”

Liz looked at the message and took a deep breath and called in her Chief of Staff.

“General, you wanted to see me?” It paid to be careful around her in unexpected situations; she was always testing you then.

She handed him the messages. “See that these transfers are ready for my signature by 1700 today.” He looked at them and his mouth dropped wide open; he looked at her and saw a hard caste to her face, then he nodded and went out to get it done.

He got it done by 1300 and she took the transfers and headed out. The Deputy for Ops looked at him as he saw the General walking out with papers.

“What is up?”

“She is handing transfer papers to ….”

“My god.”

“She gave them a chance and they did not get it done. She did not relieve them for cause as she could have.”

“Not like this is not the same thing in all but name.”

“Warning for us as well.”

“Yeah.”

Liz walked down the hall returning salutes and walked into the Deputy Assistant Division Commander for Support office. His secretary stood up. “General?”

“Is he in and alone?” “Yes sir.” Then Liz walked into his office. He jumped up.  
“General, what is it?”   
Then she handed the paper to him. “You took no action. I have no choice.”

Then walked out. She went to the Sustainment Brigade’s office and did the same; then went to the battalion, then the companies. By the time she got to the Company they knew and just bowed their heads as they took their transfer papers.

Needless to say this hit the division like the proverbial ton of bricks; multiple grand piano’s dropped on their heads. 

“A General, Full Colonel, Lt Colonel, 2 captains all in about an hour. She walked into each of their offices and handed them their transfer papers.”

“Well, no one can say she does not do her own dirty work.”

“Yeah.”

Liz came back to the office noticing that it was very vacant. She could see people spot her at a distance then all but run away. She sighed; but that was the way it was. She stopped by the Chief of Staff’s office. His secretary looked at her with terrified eyes. She just walked in and shut the door. 

Jack Forrest had had a very good career; for the first time he was in fear of it.   
“Have you made out orders giving their deputies authority for acting?”

“In the process now, sir.”

“Good. Schedule interviews with each for tomorrow one hour apart. Not the two company XO’s. The rest of them.” Then she walked out.

The word spread beyond the division quickly, as one could expect. Shock and Awe was probably the first reactions; then gratitude that the person thinking about it was not part of the 101st. Those who remembered her from the 160th and 101st Aviation were not terribly surprised.

In bases around the country the word slowly spread of the Thursday Afternoon Massacre (or Doberman’s Rampage). Then elsewhere as things tend to do inside the military.

Jim Harkness, about to leave to assume command of Fort Hood, as Base Commander, sighed. He knew how hard that must have been for Liz. He looked at the 161st Commander.  
“That was hard for her.”

“Yeah. And you know she did it herself.”

To say that this happening increased the pucker factor for the 101st Division is to say the Pacific Ocean is wide and deep. 

Meanwhile Liz kept the pressure up with more no notice exercises for all but the alert units. But it was noticeable that all Brigades began to do better. Liz certainly noticed that there was visibly more effort being put in.

Finally on 1 May she put out the 30 day notice that a divisional exercise would take place at the NTC vs the 1st ID. Normally a light airborne division vs a Heavy Division is not much of a fight; but in this case it was designed as a maneuver exercise which evened the odds some. The 1st ID would have to be considered the favorite which suited Liz fine. In holding with her views, there was very little put out about what was going to happen; just that they had to get to the NTC and be ready for a week’s full bore war.

Everything indicated that the 1st ID was indeed caught by surprise. The Division would have to move little of its heavy weapons as the NTC had a permanent set for a division. Liz decided that to do things right would take both offensive and defensive scenarios. All about moving and maneuvering. At 1300 on 1 May she had all the brigade commanders in. The Sustainment Brigade acting Commander had been doing a good job; she was looking at making his appointment official and permanent after the exercise if he did well. She had also allowed the Deputy to the Assistant Division Commander for Support to continue in his acting capacity; she was less sure about keeping him but would wait for the conclusion of the exercise.  
“Sam, she flat out told me the decision on whether I keep the position would not be made until after the exercise. That can only mean if I can do well there I keep the job.”

“Probably. But it could also mean that she is ready to cut you loose but will give you one more chance.”

“That is possible. But everything I hear about her is if you get it done you stay.”

“True. So you do have a shot.”

The Deputy Assistant Division Commander, Operations, understood that his career might ride on this exercise. She was letting him plan it mostly; while giving some input. He had never felt pressure like this before. They were going up against a heavy division so the odds were already against them. The only way they could even that out was to maneuver faster and better; and to use their extra Aviation Brigade. The General was doing most of her input in that area; which was natural since she was an aviator.

Liz had gotten a lot of tutelage on ground combat and maneuver since she took over the 161st. She had learned a lot and the brigade commanders were surprised at her insight. After the meeting a couple were talking to each other.

“You sure she never had a ground command? “

“Her only time on the ground was when she was an 89B. Rotorhead ever since.”

“Well she picked up a lot somewhere.”

Liz was surprised how well she could read and interpret the ground maneuvers; somehow all the time in Afghanistan, plus the exercises with the 161st must have helped. They had gotten a copy of the 1st ID’s maneuver procedures and gambled they would not change much for this exercise. The Brigade commanders and Liz brainstormed on how to confuse and befuddle them.

“OK. Clearly we do not want to try anything head on into their tank brigades or into their heavy weapons. But hitting them from the flank or rear is another story. We need to use our aviation assets to even the odds. If we lose 75% of the division and take them down that is a victory in this exercise. So we need to be ruthless. We need to obscure their recon and surveillance assets as much as possible. Our geek squads need to look at jamming and the like. As far as I am concerned there is nothing not on the table. Sneaky, devious, cheating, nothing is banned.”

The 1st Brigade mused. “Actually I would rather attack then defend. Defending means they know where you are and with their muscle advantage we are in deep shit if we try and hold a position.”

Liz nodded. “True. In that case it is a matter of causing the maximum number of casualties before being destroyed ourselves if we cannot retreat.”

She looked around the table. “That is the name of this game people; destroy as much of the enemy as we can before being destroyed ourselves. Our mindset going in should be that this is happening on American Soil. We have been invaded and we are willing to die if it means taking them with us. That is not something that is done on these kinds of exercises and that is wrong. That will be our biggest edge.”

The 1st ID staff was scrambling to adjust to such a short notice operation with no real guidelines. Their general was not happy.  
“This is all her idea. Short notice and virtually no directions.”

His brigade commanders looked at each other and kept silent. 

“All right. We have the power edge. We will use it. Hammer them and hammer them. They are a light division; they cannot match us. They will try and bob and weave and not let us get in good shots. We will use our advantage to the maximum.”

Once again his brigade commanders stayed quiet.

Liz had asked that the 101st start out on offense. That was granted. So they went with their maneuver and movement scenario.

This exercise was being watched by more than a few. FORSCOM, TRADOC, CENTCOM, EUCOM and others got the predator feed.

At the end of 18 hrs the first scenario was over. 101st won by a narrow margin; but the casualty factor was decidedly in the 101st’s favor.

The 1st ID Commanding general was not happy.  
“You all knew that they would be using maneuver and you still let them get away with it.” One of the Brigade commanders had the guts to respond.

“They were much more aggressive than we planned for. More Reckless than we expected.”

“Well big surprise. They have to take risks. We do not. So do better.”

FORSCOM looked at his deputy. “She did very well in that first day; used their advantages as well as you could. I wonder if the 1st ID will adjust.”

His deputy was pokerfaced. “Sir, I doubt it. He likes to bull ahead using speed and power, not maneuver. He might just play right into her hands.”

The next day the 101st was moved to a position and told to defend it. Liz then pushed the umpires on what they were defending and they agreed that it was a blocking position. So she worked with her people to make it a fighting retreat to a certain point then basically do an Alamo.

That ended at 12 hours with the total destruction on the 101st but 90% of the 1st ID went down. Technically the 1st ID won but once again as regards practical accomplishment enough of the 159th survived that the remainder of the 1st ID would not move any further so overall it was a tie; since the 1st ID had a larger force, they actually lost more personnel and virtually all of their heavy weapons.  
In a real war it would have been considered a victory for the 101st.

Once again FORSCOM looked at his deputy. “Talk about a pyrrhic victory.”

“If that, sir. Overall the 101st won again.”

The 1st ID general was truly steaming. He knew he was losing and that frosted him totally.  
“No fooling around this time. We stay in place and use our power to attrit them to the point we can counter attack.”

The third of 4 scenarios was a decisive win for the 101st as they broke through and fragmented the 1st ID, their communications jamming finishing the job. The 101st lost 60%, but the 1st ID lost 90% and was unable to hold.

The last scenario was one in which the 101st was holding a position and in this case Liz took a chance. She had her sustainment and support units dig in and used her aviation assets and maneuver battalions to virtually surround the attacking 1st ID, like a pack of wolves tearing at a lion from all sides.

Livid, the 1st ID filed a complaint, complaining that training rules had been violated. His brigade commanders could not believe it.

The head of the NTC looked at his staff. “Were there any safety violations?”  
“No sir; it got close in a couple of areas but no safety violations.”

“What about the jamming of communications?”

“Emergency and medical frequencies were not interfered with.”

“His complaint about violating training procedures?”

“Without merit.” 

FORSCOM was talking to CENTCOM and EUCOM.  
“I cannot believe he actually filed a formal complaint.”

“The dumbest thing he could have done. He got his butt kicked and now he is claiming that she cheated.”

The collective out brief was very tense. Liz kept an impassive face as the NTC commander informed the general that his complaint had been rejected. They left soon afterwards. Once everyone got home Liz informed the whole Division that they had the next week off, she had arranged for the 82nd to cover the alert brigade requirements, agreeing sometime in the future to return the favor. Liz listened to the happy calls and cheerful talk of her division; they knew they had really won a big one. And she smiled.

When the Division got back to Campbell, Liz had gathered them all on the parade field. Using the PA system there she gave them the word.

“Screaming Eagles just kicked butt. I want to congratulate the Deputy Division Commander for Operations for doing most of the planning. The Aviation Brigades for evening the odds. And who says Sustainment means just hauling supplies? You dug in and made it count. The Maneuver brigades rang rings around them. OK, people, you have 7 days off duty starting now. Get outta here.”

It would be understating to say that parade field cleared very quickly. Liz went to her quarters and just relaxed with her family.

The results of this exercise proceeded to reverberate around the US Army. The fact that an airborne division, a light division, basically kicked around a Heavy Division shook some very widely held beliefs. The tread heads were horrified; worried that this would be used to try and get rid of more tanks. Those who believed in lighter forces were overjoyed. Bean counters liked the fact that light divisions were cheaper than heavy divisions. FORSCOM and XVIII Airborne Corps talked about this a week later.  
“The debate just got reopened.”

“Yeah, that can of worms is all over the place again.” 

“Never ceases to amaze me how one side or the other never seem to realize that you cannot be all light or all heavy; you need a mixture.”

“I think most of them get that you need a mixture; but one side or another is always looking at a 65/35 split. To me a 45 -55 split with light forces having the edge seems about right. We have to look to the future with Korea and China and maybe Russia; those fights would be tank heavy. BUT most of our fights outside of there will be light; just as they have mostly been since first Korea with the exception of Desert Storm and the first part of the second Iraq war.”

FORSCOM grinned at him. “Surprise that you liked the current split; even though you have a heavy unit.”

“I am quite happy with what I have. I think overall the XVIII is set up just the way it needs to be.”

Meanwhile at the 1st Armored and 1st Cavalry as well as the 3rd and 4th Infantry divisions were not as happy. Though the Infantry divisions were not as worried as the two heavy armored divisions were. They were worried that they would end up getting made lighter. They were all certain that the commander of the 1st ID had simply walked stupidly into the trap laid for him. And had thus made all heavy divisions look bad.

The fate of the 1st ID commander was being debated high up in the Army and the DOD. The SECDEF called in the Secretary of the Army and the Chief of Staff of the Army to discuss it.  
“I want your recommendations now.”

The Secretary was quiet for a moment. “He has had a good record up to now.”

The Chief of Staff was blunt. “Filing that complaint clinched it in my eyes. Whining after getting your butt kicked is no way to act no matter what. What he should have done was congratulate her and then ask for a rematch in 6 months or whenever it could be arranged. But he acted like a spoiled 4 year old. And it has been pretty much a given that when a division disastrously; and make no bones about it that is what it was, fails a large exercise then the division commander is relieved. He still has two years to go and frankly I do not want him there.”

SECDEF nodded. “That is my opinion as well and I shall so recommend to the president.” He then sat back.

“She did better than I expected in her first exercise; especially just a few months after the massacre.”

The Chief of Staff smiled. “One could probably say they were more frightened of her than anyone else. That tends to concentrate one’s mind very well. But I have to say I have not seen some of those tactics tried before on a brigade level. She gambled and won; but they were not crazy gambles. They were cold blooded calculated risks. I hope we never find out if she is like that in real combat. Though some of her exploits already hint at it.”

SECDEF looked at him. “Explain?”

“The last scenario and the second one. She basically sacrificed her entire sustainment brigade in the last one and in the second one virtually her entire division. In both cases she achieved her objective at huge costs. But if we were in total war, such as we would have been if the Warsaw Pact had ever attacked, that is exactly the kind of commanders I would have wanted.” 

The SECDEF mused on that. “I admit I did not expect her to act so cold-bloodedly; but then once again this was not the real thing.”

The Chief shook his head. “Listen to those tapes again, sir, during the Pakistan operation. Totally cool and calm the entire time. I think I can say for virtually certain that if she saw the need she would sacrifice her entire division. Coldly and calmly. But I would also expect her to share their fate.”

SECDEF looked at him. “Travis at the Alamo?”

“Yes sir. No running; just take as many as you can with you when you go down.”

All three men contemplated that thought.

Liz looked up as her chief of staff came in.  
“The General commanding the 1st ID has been relieved and will be retiring immediately.”

Liz sighed. “I am of two minds on that. One, I think it is warranted with the way he acted. But on the other it’s a sad end to a good career.”

“Filing that complaint is what I think did it. Not just doing it but the mindset of doing it. I am pretty sure that was the final straw.”

“I cannot believe that his people did not try and stop him.”

“General, from what I have heard he was a bit of a bully. I think he had them intimidated into not going against him.”

Liz shook her head. “Very stupid. If that is the case then I am glad he is gone. Would not want to have to depend on him if we went to war.”

After the Division got back from their leave, they began to talk about the exercise. And they began to see just how ruthless Liz had been. And they began to wonder what would happen if they really went to war.

As usual Sid had his ear to the ground and heard the whispers. He had to admit that he could see where they were coming from. So he talked to Liz.

“Bottom line is they wonder if you would be that cold blooded and ruthless in a real war.”

She looked at him. “What do you think?”

He paused for a moment then nodded. “If it was important enough you would do it.”

She nodded. “Yes I would.”

“That scares them some.”

She sighed. Then leaned back in her chair and looked at him pensively.  
“War is Hell; to quote Sherman. Who was perhaps the first person to really understand total war. The Romans leveled Carthage and salted the land. The Greeks destroyed Troy completely. But in each case that was an isolated happening. Sherman understood that if you want to really finish a war you have to destroy your enemy’s ability to wage war. Really the US Civil War was the first time that became policy. Carried out to the ultimate in WW2. People really do not think about that anymore. It is not taught that way. And that means that commanders have to be willing to sacrifice their command if it is important enough. If sacrificing my whole division would stop a nuclear war I would do it.”

Command Sergeant Major Sid Winston shivered. She meant it.

After he left Liz thought about it; and decided her division needed to know this about her. So she put out a message that would be read to every unit.

“Many of you wonder at my tactics during the exercise. Sacrificing all or part of the division to achieve the objective. This was a training exercise; you are allowed to do things there you would never do in a real war. But I need all of you to understand this: If I was put in the situation of preventing World War III by sacrificing the entire division; I would choose to sacrifice the division. Now I promise you one thing: if it ever comes to that I will stand with you to the end. And I promise you something else. I would not go to extremes like that if there was any other choice. But know I would do it if I believed I had to.”

That message in some respects relieved people; but in other ways just scared them; they realized they had a commander who would to that if she thought she had to.

That message got out to a few people not in the 101st; and one of them was the former SOCOM who had just retired. He read it and thought about things. He talked about it with his old Aviation Chief who had also retired.  
“So what do you think?”

“I think that is what has always been there; she just finally showed it.”

“But when you think of how hard she fought to keep her people alive…”

“Because she could without sacrificing anything important. With the exception of the operation to keep the Pakistani nukes out of Al Qaeda’s hands she always had a choice; it was never so critical that she had to consider it. In that operation you can hear it in her voice; she was going to do whatever it took to keep those nukes out of their hands. If she had to sacrifice her whole command to do it she would have; if she had felt the need she would have rammed her Apache right into that bunker. Like I said it has always been there; for the first time she showed us a glimpse. In that exercise she showed the pragmatic thinking that would do it if she had to. But once again it would have to be something so big that accomplishing her mission was worth everyone and herself dying to get it done. I find that hard to imagine where she is right now. But it is there.”

Liz had never really confronted her inner willingness to die or to sacrifice her command if necessary. But she understood that it had always been there. The Pakistan operation was the first time that she had faced that possibility. She had quietly determined that no matter what it cost her mission would succeed. If there was any way out of it she would take it; but if there was no other way she was prepared to sacrifice everyone including herself. She had deliberately not thought about it after the operation; but having to speak to Sid about it had brought it right back to the top. She then in her typical fashion faced her fears and came to terms with them; in this case not her fears but her determination. She would do whatever was necessary if it was important enough. She accepted it and placed it in its box; hoping to never have to open it again.

In the next few months Liz went back to her pattern of no notice inspections and training exercises; and for the Alert Brigades she gave them only 24 hours. She borrowed a regular apache now and then to keep current from one of her brigades; she found it hard to accept the limitations of the regular apaches after flying their big brother for so long. So she began to now and then borrow a spare Super from the 160th. Frequently challenging them to keep up with her. She looked upon this as her relaxation therapy.

Aliya seemed to be thriving at the University of Tennessee and seemed to have found a boyfriend; her first as she had dated very little while in Scotland. Liz did not hesitate to investigate him thoroughly. He seemed OK, but she made it a point to show up in Uniform once and accidentally meet him. Aliya of course saw through all this and scolded her mother for trying to ruin her love life. Liz just smiled.  
“Of course I am. One of a mothers sacred duties.”

2 months after shredding the 1st ID there was a training exercise with one of the Brigades of the 82nd; held at Bragg. Liz chose the 2nd Brigade and they did quite well; winning the scenario. Liz pushed TRADOC to let her get a full Brigade training exercise for each of her brigades against another divisional brigade at least twice a year. The former TRADOC had been moved on to another position as it was quietly seen he really did not have what it took; the new TRADOC was more aggressive and agreed with her.

“I guess you know that some of the heavy divisions want to even the score; to show you that your light division cannot really compete with them. That the 1st ID got its head handed to them because their division commander screwed up.”

“Of course. Brigade to Brigade with the Aviation Brigade with mine; and a part of an aviation brigade with them. To make it fair.”

TRADOC had smiled and had arranged for the 3rd Brigade of the 101st plus the 159th Aviation to go to Ft Hood and fight it out with the 1st Brigade of the 1st Cavalry. This happened in September and once again with only a 30 day warning. But the result was not far off from the first time. Liz had carefully prepared her people; and they had used their aviation edge to the maximum; once again showing how much an edge speed gave you. It was not the total knockout it had been before; but the 3rd Brigade after 4 days had a distinct edge.

Once again Liz rewarded the Brigade with a 72 hour off duty pass. And once again it caused talk about a Light Brigade outpointing a Heavy Brigade.

“Aviation was the difference; they could not overcome it. They were growling about that.”

“Let them growl; the fact is that we will send any light division or brigade with more aviation assets than a heavy brigade every time. Because they need it. The heavy crew has claimed that they don’t.”

“I do not think you will hear that claim much anymore.”

They got back to work again after the latest exercise. Liz was glad to see that the new sustainment people were doing a good job; and had decided that the acting Deputy Assistant Division commander for Support was good enough to keep; so she pushed for his promotion. And the others as well.

After 6 months as division commander Liz did an assessment of the situation. Overall she was satisfied that she had them about as ready as she could make them; her no notice exercises and inspections on the non-alert brigades and the 24 hr warning on the alert brigade seemed to do the trick. Sniffing around, Sid had not been able to come up with any problems. So as she tried to do every month, she would have separate meetings with the enlisted and the officers of each brigade in the amphitheater; basically a bitch session for them. That seemed to work well as did her poking her nose into each area once a month.

They were now used to her wandering in and asking how things were going. She would just appear and tell everyone to just keep working; it took a few months for the majority of her people to realize she was just staying in touch and wanted to know what was going on. It was through these kinds of visits that she learned about problems that never seemed to make it up the ladder; bad equipment or contractors not doing a good enough job.

In her 6 months as commander, Liz had run out several contractors that did not live up to their contracts; and forced renegotiation on several more that had unreasonably badly written contracts. She caught some heat from some of the army bean counters but she basically told them to sit down and shut up. Reminding them that they were supposed to be doing this sort of thing not her.

Since a couple of those contractors were from large corporations that had a lot of influence in Washington, she did get a few calls from higher up; especially DOD contracting. She reminded them that it was their responsibility to make sure the troops were taken care of; not the contractor. Basically she told them as far as she was concerned they had been bought off. Needless to say, that was not received well.

The Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics looked at his assistant.  
“She said what?”

“She did not quite come out and say it, but basically she said that him complaining about leaning on the contractors basically meant he was in their pocket.”

The Undersecretary sighed. “Well tell him that from her point of view that is probably what it looked like. And that it is his duty to look after our people first, not the contractor.”

“Sir that means we will probably start to hear from congress.”

“I know. Well I should maybe talk to her.”

“General Parker.”

“Hold for the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics.”

“General Parker, I felt I needed to talk to you about a conversation you had with the DCMA head.”

“With all due respect, Mr Undersecretary, my point was clear. I had contractors hear either failing to live up to their contracts or contracts that should have had people in jail and I canceled them as I am allowed to do by law. As far as I am concerned he was more in the pocket of the Contractors and I was not going to waste my time with him. If he got butt hurt too bad.”

The Undersecretary blinked. Took a deep breath.

“General, you do know there could be consequences from that.”

“Let them come. I really doubt he wants to testify in front of congress about that, does he?”

Damn. She is playing hardball. The Undersecretary was an old Washington Hand and knew a losing argument when he was in the middle of one.  
“I would say that is very much the case, General. I hope you are prepared for there to be some grumbling about this from corporations that have a lot of influence.”

“I am sir. Let them growl. Like cockroaches, they will shut up and run for cover if the light of publicity is shed on them. And I would have no trouble calling a press conference and talking about it. Let them know and I doubt you will hear anything more from them, sir.”

“Good Day general.”

“Good Day Mr Undersecretary. I do not envy you your job.”

Liz knew she was taking a chance but if they wanted to get rid of her she would take them down as well. She did not need this position; she could be quite happy outside the military. That was her edge and she was going to use it; she was going to do it her way or leave.

The Undersecretary knew he needed to kick this upstairs. So he buzzed SECDEF’s office.

SECDEF was surprised; this was pretty far even for her. He decided to talk to someone that knew her fairly well. He put a call into the recently retired SOCOM.

SOCOM had found retirement a little boring but very relaxing so he thought he could get to the point where he was comfortable. The call from the SECDEF surprised him a little.   
“Sir, what can this old broken down retired grunt do for you.”

“Cut the crap, Sam. We have known each other way too long.”

“OK, Joe. What is up?”

“Your favorite general is raising hell again.”

“What did she do this time?”

“Fired a bunch of contractors and canceled other contracts forcing renegotiations. When the DCMA head called her on it, she pretty much told him to go have a drink on the bribe money and leave her alone.”

The former SOCOM whistled softly. “Wow. That is pretty extreme even for her.”

“It gets better. The Undersecretary called her about it and she told him that if the contractors or the DCMA head made noise she would call a press conference and talk about it.”

“Holy shit. Not that it would surprise me; we both know how bad the process is.”

“I know; even with the improvements we have made over the last few years it is still bad. But she sounds like she is ready to pop a nuke.”

“And if she called a press conference and talked about this it would be one in the megaton range. But you know, that might be what would be required to reform this once and for all. A whole lot of publicity.” 

“Maybe. But what it would mostly do is threaten the budget. There would be a lot of people in congress that just would cut without changing anything. Not even talking about the ones who are bought and paid for by the contractors.”

“True. But I admit that her willingness to kick the table over is a bit of a surprise. I will talk to her and see what is behind it.”

“Please do. I need to know what is going on.”

The ex SOCOM thought for a bit then made a call.

“Could you have the congressman call me at his convenience?”

The Congressman sat and thought about things after the phone call. What was she up to?

The Ex SOCOM then put in the call he was dreading somewhat.

“Sir, what can I do for you?”

“I hear you are raising hell about contracting. I was asked to try and find out what was going on. The SECDEF and I go way back and he asked me.”

“I really doubt I need to tell you how bad it is?”

“No you do not. But why are you being hard core?”

“I decided when I made the commitment to stay in and accept promotion that I would do it my way or get out. I will not sit down and be quiet about things like this. If they want to toss me, fine. I do not need to be here.”

He sighed. “Liz, this army needs you and this does not help to get you where we need you to be.”

“Sir I will not back down on things like this; I owe it to the people I command NOW not who I may command in the future.” 

He was quiet as he realized that not only would she not bend; in her mind she could not. This was the price you paid for being a maverick.  
“Just try and watch your back, Liz. They have a lot of power.”

“Too much power and if they are able to take me out I will make them pay.” 

He called the congressman and relayed what they had talked about.  
The Congressman nodded slowly.  
“I was not going to run again but she needs my help. They will be gunning for her; and while I have no doubt she could take them down as you said the Army and this country needs her. I will talk to some of my colleagues.”

The SECDEF put down his phone and sat back and thought about things. He knew she had some serious support; and she was absolutely correct that public opinion would be overwhelmingly on her side. Especially as she described the reasons for her actions. The Congressman would pretty much take care of any grief from congress; once they were made aware of how far she was willing to go they would NOT want to have any part of it. And without any congressional or DOD support the contractors would find out quickly just how weak their position was; they were businessmen first and the realization that the costs would far outstrip the benefits they would indeed sit down and shut up.

The Base Commander looked at his Contracting head.  
“So for all intents and purposes she can do as she pleases?”

“Yes sir. I got this back door from someone I know in DCMA. She told him that he needed to take a drink on his bribe money; then told the Undersecretary the same thing. They have backed off and the DCMA head will not have anything to do with her now. The word I get is that no one wants to tangle with her; you know she has that congressman on her string so Congress is out. I think the contractors just found out how little power they have when it concerns her.”

The Base Commander sat back and thought as he left. He had known that when she was made divisional commander things would not be normal. He just had not realized how abnormal it would be. Contractors running scared was very rare; especially those from large companies. Not that it bothered him; he had no liking for contractors at all; but they had always been considered a fact of life to anyone who had been in the military for the last 25 years. It was very refreshing to have someone come in and kick their butt.

The CEO put down his phone and considered things.  
“I think we need to pull out of Ft Campbell. I was just told that she has total support in congress and elsewhere. If we try and push this we will regret it. We are a business; and this is bad for business.”

The Contract officer could not believe it. All of the major contractors that had been involved in the controversy had basically cut and run. The smaller ones were being told to do what they were supposed to do and otherwise shut up. He sighed; this meant he had to solicit new contractors and that was a pain. He decided to talk to the Base Commander; maybe they needed to talk to the General about this.

Liz looked at the Base Commander and the Contracting officer and smiled. It was not a pleasant smile and both of them wanted to get out of there fast.  
“All contracts at this installation that have anything to do with my command will be done right. They will be written tightly and enforced to the maximum. The Free Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner contractors have gotten here like elsewhere is over. We will follow the law and the regulations; which were written to first make sure the soldier is the priority. No matter how that has gotten warped and twisted since. That is all gentlemen.”

The fallout from Liz’s fight with the contractors came at many levels. New contractors came in and found out that the atmosphere at Ft Campbell was nowhere near what they were used to. The Base Commander directed the Contract officer to advertise for local contractors; to openly solicit local businesses. As regards things that could not be done by locals, there were some contractors that did do things right and they were known; the contract officer contacted them directly. It took some work but in a few months they had things back going again.

At the level of the huge contractors, this was noticed but not cared about. This was not an area they got into so it was not their problem. It was the medium sized contractors that over the years had gotten very fat on government contracts loosely written and loosely enforced that took it in the shorts. They realized that a public fight would see their entire position threatened; and that General Parker had them outgunned. So they just got out and would not consider contracts where she was. 

The congressman had been very successful in his conversations with certain members that were for all intents and purposes bought and paid for by contractors. They realized that they had no choice but to stay out of it. 

The DCMA, seeing that he had no support, would not have anything to do with Ft Campbell. The rest of his command got the message and any complaints by any contractors from that base would be ignored from then on. That word trickled down fairly quickly. The remaining contractors on Ft Campbell found themselves in the position of having to fully live up to the letter of their contracts and that was something new. The actual running of Ft Campbell began to get better and that was noticed and of course why that was so got out just as fast. Which made the support for Liz grow stronger and harder.  
There were honorable companies out there that tried to do right; and they got the word and began to look at Ft Campbell. It was a large base and there were lucrative possibilities there. The Contract officer found companies contacting him that he had never heard from before.

This had all gotten out eventually at the upper level and FORSCOM and XVIII Airborne Corps found themselves talking about it one day not long after.

“So she told the DCMA to go buy a drink using the bribe money?”

“That is what I have heard.”

“That is pretty extreme.”

“But accurate.”

“Telling the truth can sometimes be costly.”

“The hints I get are that she does not care. If it gets too bad she calls a press conference and resigns on air and tells everyone why.”

“Wow. Talk about the nuclear option.”

“Yep. The bodies from there to the Pentagon would be waist deep; and the contractors would be declared public enemy #1. Talk about a wasteland. Needless to say the SECDEF and everyone else backed off. Congress as expected ran and hid. That left the contractors out in the open with her all by themselves. They are not stupid so they folded their tents and snuck out of town.”

“Do you think she would do it?”

“In a heartbeat. I talked with the ex SOCOM chief that knew her pretty well. Basically if she cannot do it her way she will just walk away. No compromises.”

They both contemplated the singularity of someone who would walk away rather than compromise what she thought important.


	24. No longer a small frog in a big pond

Unaware of this, and frankly uncaring if she had been, Liz moved along towards the goal of having the best division in the world. One year after taking command, she felt that she was probably as close as she was going to get. So now it was a case of having to maintain it. She was a fairly frequent visitor to the 160th, borrowing a Super Apache to play with; which to her was running the other Super Apache’s ragged. Joe just stood back and watched and his training officer took notes from the acknowledged best.

“That is her hobby?”

“Pretty much. Every other month or so she schedules a day with the 160th and runs their Super Apache battalion ragged.”

The Base Commander had gotten an offer from a friend to go into business and decided to retire. Once Liz heard about this she made a phone call.  
“Yo, Jim, how are you doing?”

“Pretty good Liz. What is up?”

“How long have you been at Hood?”

“You know I left Scotland a year after you did. So it is just about 2 years here.”

“Do you like it?”

“Why do I think this is a loaded question?”

“Well I recall you saying you were going to retire once.”

“When I got my promotion we decided to just see what happens next. Hood is not a bad posting; a little too hot and dry but not all that bad.”

“How would you like to come back east?”

“And do what?”

“Be base commander at Campbell. The current one is getting out. Since this is unexpected I know that the powers that be have no one in line at the moment.”

“Well, why not?”

“Great. I will get your orders cut. Probably in 60 days.”

Feeling better to have a friend at Campbell, Liz called up IMCOM and made a formal request. 

The personnel officer spoke to his chief.  
“General Parker wants the new Base Commander at Campbell to be the current one transferred from Hood.”

“Was there anyone already chosen?”

“No sir. This was an unexpected vacancy.”

“Then do it. What she wants she pretty much gets.”

The debate and argument about the capabilities of light division’s vs heavy divisions had not cooled off much. It was still percolating pretty well. The heavy proponents felt they needed to show who was really boss and wanted another face off. The new commander of the 1st ID felt honor bound to prove that the debacle was a onetime thing brought about by an incompetent and rigid commander. From almost the day he took command he was on FORSCOM and TRADOC to schedule a rematch with the 101st. But he was told that due to the expense that doing another one with the same two divisions was not justified. So he then began to push to take on the 82nd. He was told to shut it; but TRADOC did point out that the 82nd had not had a real full division exercise in some time and it was agreed that they and the 3rd ID would go to the NTC for a faceoff. 

The commander of the 82nd had been a little ticked off at the thumping given one of his brigades by the 101st and decided that this was a chance to prove he was as good as Parker and accepted the challenge. In February they met and the 3rd ID did well; though not overwhelmingly the winner. The heavy proponents felt somewhat vindicated. The Light proponents shrugged and basically said you did not beat our best and you had more time to get ready since they had a full 90 days. This did very little to settle anything.

Liz observed this and smirked a little; she did not like the commander of the 82nd.

FORSCOM and TRADOC discussed the exercise.  
“He did not exactly back up his talk, did he?’

“Still did pretty well all things considered.”

“He did well as long as he could move; but once pinned down he was done. Does not have the same ability to improvise as she does.”

“The comparisons will really frost him now. I know he does not like her.”

“The feeling is completely mutual.”

The commander of the 82nd was very dissatisfied with the exercise and leaned hard on his brigades to improve. His brigade commanders voiced their disapproval for what they felt were needless drills and the like; they had performed quite well they felt given the conditions of the exercise. He became aware of this and had a closed door session with them.  
“Right now the 101 and she are considered the best around. I am not satisfied and will not take second place to a glorified rotorhead masquerading as a division commander.”

The Brigade commanders looked at each other and kept quiet. Mostly. But one of them mentioned it to his wife; who really did not like the General and was an admirer of Liz. She talked to a couple of others and it began to leak.

About a week later it came to the attention of XVIII Airborne Corps commander and he was quietly furious. Knowing that confronting the general would result in him working over his brigade commanders to find out who talked, he was determined to put him in his place. He went to TRADOC and let him in on it.  
“I think he needs taken down a couple of pegs.”

TRADOC nodded. He also did not like the 82nd’s commander.  
“I think we can arrange this.”

Liz received notice of a divisional exercise at Ft Bragg. She smiled. And called in her staff.   
“We get to shut him up once and for all people. In 30 days.”

He got off the phone. “I want a staff meeting in one hour. We have 30 days to kick her ass.”

Liz and her staff and the brigade commanders poured over plans for the next week. She looked at them then made a call to TRADOC.  
“Sir, would it not be best if we made this a meeting engagement. No plans; last minute taskings and the like?”

“That would seem to be something airborne units should do well. I agree.”

The 82nd commander put down the phone. “Change in plans. Throw them out. This will be a meeting engagement and taskings during the event. So we just have to be ready to react and move fast. We will see who the better commander is.”

The 101st showed up in transports with their helicopters in formation. Liz had calculated this to make a show and further piss him off. It certainly did that.

“He did not show up to greet her?”

“Sent his deputy commander.”

“Does this guy ever get it?”

“Doesn’t look like it.”

The first day Liz was told to take a position that the 1st Brigade of the 82nd was holding; it was in a hilly area. She sent in her Apaches and from range saturated the area with 2.75’s and 30MM; it was shown that a carefully drawn up fire plan put a rocket or shell on virtually every square yard the entire area that the Brigade was in. They demonstrated it on an unoccupied area. Then she sent in hard and fast her Little Boys to drop off raiding teams while the Attack Little Birds covered them. Then put a brigade on each side and squeezed.

It took only 3 hours to take the position. The 101st took 25% casualties while the 82nd brigade was declared virtually destroyed. 

The next day the 101st was put in the same position. This time the 3rd Brigade was dropped and told to dig in for attack. Liz had her attack little birds land and get covered with camo netting. She gambled that the 82nd would not look and notice. They did not and brought their helicopters in too close and were massacred.

The 3rd day the entire 82nd was dug in and waited to be attacked. They expected the 101st to maneuver to try and get an advantage before attacking. But Liz threw everything she had right at the center of the 82nd’s position without showing anything until the attack. She thus had an overwhelming advantage at the point of attack and followed it up, ironically doing just what a heavy brigade would do. She had her people carry twice the issue of ammunition and use marching fire; whereupon you fire in a general area as you attack. It was over in one hour.

That evening Liz was looking over the last days exercise. It was expected that the entire 101st would be placed in a defensive position and give the 82nd the opportunity to show what it could do on a divisional level. She had some ideas that she discussed with her staff; they were risky but seemed to give them an edge.

At 0600 they received their tasking and as expected it was a divisional defensive operation. Liz looked over the scenario carefully. Then smiled.

He looked at the recon footage and smiled. Finally they had her!  
“Plan Baker! We caught her still moving. We will roll them up.”

Liz had been told that the objective was to hold this position; but she was gambling that she could destroy the 82nd without playing defense. She once again used her sustainment personnel to actually dig in on the objective while she partialed out each of her brigades to take down one of the 82nd’s brigades one on one. Basically to let them commit then sweep in around and either flank them or hit them from the rear. Within one hour of the beginning of the exercise it was now basically 4 battles on the ground and one in the air; and while interesting to the observers it did not help the 82nd at all as they were unable to get near the objective. After 8 hours it was declared over. Since the objective had been barely brushed, it was declared solidly held. And the overall casualties favored the 101st 2-1. So four scenarios and four clear victories for the 101st. 

That night the 82nd commander drank too much beer and proceeded to air his grievances right out in the street of the middle of the senior officer’s residence area. Which just happened to be where the VIP quarters were as well. And FORSCOM, TRADOC and XVIII airborne were. Since this was at midnight, the ruckus woke them all up.

FORSCOM called XVIII on his cell phone.  
“He is under your direct command.”

“I will take care of it.”

Not liking this at all but knowing it was his responsibility XVIII headed over to corral his drunken general. He dragged him into his house; and sat him down.  
“General, you are within an ace of being relieved so shut up and SIT DOWN.”

But he kept yelling insults and very explicit remarks about General Parker. Finally XVIII had had enough and called the MPs and had him tossed in the shower and forcefully sobered up.

What no one knew was that one of the teenagers who had been watching this had gotten her cell phone camera and it was one of the new models that had audio as well. She proceeded to share it with a bunch of her friends. The General was not very popular on base. So it would not have surprised anyone that by morning it was on You tube and Face Book both. And not long after that the media found out about it and it was by noon the next day all over everywhere.

The President saw it and was very pissed off. And he passed that down to the SECDEF with orders to take care of it right away. By 1400 that afternoon the general was relieved of his command.

The official critique and review had been canceled and Liz and her staff were trying to find out why when they found out about it. Liz promptly ordered everyone to not say a word and then gathered up her command and left the post immediately; one day ahead of schedule. XVIII called her and informed her that TRADOC would talk to them soon; but for the time being to just go home and keep quiet.

This was a very juicy story and the media loved it. The army was relieved that only a part of what the general had been ranting had been captured on video; it was not as bad as some of what he had been saying. And nothing compared to what he had said in his own home in the presence of the XVIII Airborne Corps commander and post MP’s.

Then the media found out how the 101st had not only just kicked the 82nd’s butt but the recent past where they had kicked everyone else’s butt as well. 

So a year and a half into her command of the 101st Airborne Division Liz was once again a subject of household and widespread conversation. 

SECDEF had a meeting to discuss the situation; it was decided to keep it simple. The General had acted in a manner unbecoming of an officer and gentleman and he was relieved for cause. After that he ordered a meeting with TRADOC, FORSCOM and XVIII.  
“Gentlemen, I hope I do not have any more division commanders who are either stupid or drunks.”

The three generals looked at each other and then at SECDEF. Finally answering for them all was FORSCOM.  
“I think at the moment he was the last one, sir.”

“Very well. Now I want to know if she is really that good or has she just run up against poor commanders.”

XVIII took that one. “Sir the margin of the victories were greater due to the commander in the exercise with the 1st ID but she would have won anyway even if he had been better. Here the 82nd actually maneuvered pretty well but her units were faster and quicker; and she got into his head and messed him up. As we all saw.”

FORSCOM agreed. “She won by a bigger margin due to the mistakes her opponents made; but she would have won anyway since she plain out thought them.”

SECDEF pondered that. “OK. Now my next question is for the future. She is halfway through her tour with the 101st. She has ramped that unit up to the point that it is arguably the best division in the army, correct?”

All three nodded.  
“Her entire record seems to indicate that she is best at building units up and fixing them. This posting was actually a test case for her; to see if she could handle a large unit as well as she did a smaller one. That question has been answered in the absolute affirmative manner. But what to do with her next?”

TRADOC answered first. “As a roving inspector and examiner, I would love to have her. She can spot bad units and problems very quickly. And reworking training doctrine would be a huge help. She clearly has the ability to do that beyond anyone else we currently have.”

FORSCOM was pensive. “Partly I hate the idea of her not commanding a unit because that is so clearly what she does best. But General Miles comment about reworking training doctrine is dead on. Her exercises in Europe, which her successor has kept up, have become models for how to do it as a means of keeping a unit sharp and identifying officers just not up to the task. Frankly that is what we need more of here in the US.”

XVIII sighed. He could see this coming. “I would love to have her as my deputy but frankly I think she can be of greater use to the Army in TRADOC. At least for a few years. Then to be honest my position would be best; she would still command even if at a distance.” 

TRADOC and FORSCOM agreed and SECDEF nodded.

Liz, unaware of the fact that her next position had already been agreed on kept right on working her unit.

One thing that Liz had noticed and had been looking at hard was the combat load that her troopers had. The army had tried to reduce this as the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan had driven home the fact that the US military expected its troops to carry too much to battle. Some progress had been made but the usual bureaucratic BS and interference from contractors and congress had bogged it down. She had talked to Sid about it early on in her command.  
“Just how much weight are they carrying?”

“70 lbs plus. It is down from what it was in Iraq but still too high. I think right now it is right about 75 lbs and it is going up again.”

Liz shook her head. “That is just plain stupid. What is it that weighs so much or is it a combination?”

“It is a combination; the body armor is worst. But the extra tools and above all water we are supposed to carry is where a lot of the weight is coming from. The heavy weapons people with MG and Mortars and the like are much worse off.”

Liz had gone back and searched her memory from her time in Iraq and remembered seeing the troops almost literally bowed down by what they had to carry. Then she thought about Afghanistan not that long ago and it was the same. She looked at Sid.  
“I noticed that the Brits did not carry as much.”

“No they don’t. And I do not think any other army carries what we do.”

“Look into it.”

6 months later he had come back with a fair amount of data including a couple studies done early in the Iraq conflict by TRADOC that had been mostly buried or ignored. Liz spent several days going over this after the exercise with the 82nd. Her troopers were considered light but that was not the case with what they carried. She then had Sid pull in some troopers that had been with the division for some time and found out what it was like for them in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Liz tried to meet with small groups as much as she could; she found that after a while they forgot she was their general and just talked openly. She learned a lot this way.

“If we could find a cart or something like it we used that as much as possible; anything to not carry it on our backs.”

“As much as possible the only time we wore the backpacks we were issued was on inspections and reviews. Otherwise the guys would use commercial stuff that we worked on so that it was the way we needed it.” 

“Carrying so much water was a big problem yet we needed it. We were able to get a couple of bladders on a cart and we used that the last 4 months we were there on that deployment.”

After they left Liz contemplated things. She looked at Sid.  
“The heavy units do not worry because they mostly ride into combat and leave their heavy stuff with the vehicles. We cannot do that.”

He nodded. “We have to pretty much march when we are dropped off. We need something to either carry stuff for us or much lighter gear.”

At the two year mark Liz was working hard on this along with a picked group of troopers. She had authorized purchase of commercial gear and had them working on putting together a hybrid type of pack. She got a chance to talk to TRADOC not long after they had finished their products.

He had come to visit and look around at what was now accepted as the best division in the US Army and the best trained as well. He was almost counting the days until he could get her into TRADOC where he had some big plans for her. Then she showed him what she had been working on.

Liz waited as he looked over the bastardized pack system that her people had put together. It weighed considerably less than issue equipment; and she showed him what she had authorized as the combat load for her people. 

He sat there and mused for a minute then looked at her.  
“We have had study groups and lots of high paid so called professionals working on this for years and they had not accomplished much. I know about that report that was done back in 2003. Almost 15 years ago. It has been pretty much forgotten.”

“We need to do more than has been done to lighten the load. My people have come up with some solutions but the issue of requiring our troops to carry so much extra crap has to be solved.”

“So you mind if I take this with me. And your study? I want some others to look it over.”

“No problem.”

He got FORSCOM and XVIII to come by and look at well. They poked at it and actually put it on and tried it out. Then they read what her group had come up with. Finally FORSCOM looked at him.  
“We need her working on this full time. But frankly even with the third star that will be coming soon where would you put her that she can really get things done?”

“I am going to ask that a couple of my areas be consolidated and that I be given a 3 star position just for her. To work on these sorts of things.”

He had gone to SECDEF not long after that visit and he had signed off on it. SECDEF then talked to her congressman to get support in Congress and was assured that it would be forthcoming.

Liz looked around at her office that she had been at for almost 2 and a half years; she knew the clock was ticking again and wondered where she would go. Odds were it was either Pentagon or TRADOC. She thought that TRADOC would be the place to go. She really liked the current one and his deputy who was slated to take over in about a year was a lot like him; she thought they could get along well. But no longer really commanding was something that she would miss. Her 101st was now openly acknowledged as the best division in the US Army.

SECDEF had called in TRADOC for a meeting.  
“The bill has been written and the President has agreed; her congressman will present it next week. There should be no problem getting it through by the end of next month. So realistically we can cut the orders now. Her replacement been decided on?”

“XVIII and FORSCOM agree that her idea of promoting her deputy to the position is a good one. She has him fully trained and he appears to be a good one. If he has been able to make her happy for over 2 years then we should give him the benefit of the doubt.”

“In a surprise ceremony today, Elizabeth Parker, Current commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division located at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, was promoted to Lieutenant General. While not unexpected, as her record as a division commander has been as impressive as her other commands, it still came as a surprise to her. The timing was curious as she still had several months to go as commander of the 101st. And in another interesting development, there appears to be a special bill going through congress to establish a special position at the Training Command, known as TRADOC. And from all accounts General Parker will be nominated for that position. She will as a three star have to be confirmed for that position even though she already has her promotion.”

Liz had been stunned that everyone had managed to hide this from her. All of a sudden SECDEF had appeared and there had been a ceremony in front of the entire division where she got her 3rd star pinned on her by her husband and her mother. Then he had told her that a special position had been established for her at TRADOC where she would basically be taxed with rewriting the training doctrine for the US Army infantry and light forces. And at the same time be in charge of the program to reduce the combat load. She had a hunch she would be very busy; but she had been able to pick her own people. So Jim Harkness was coming along as well as Sid. And she was pulling the sergeant and troopers who had been helping Sid with the project.

One month later she surrendered command of the 101st with great regret; but she was looking forward to the challenge given her: rework the US Army heavy and light infantry.

Liz’s official job title was Director of Special Projects. She was basically going to be the utility fielder for TRADOC. If something needed to be done quickly she would be getting the call. But this was beyond what he had immediately tasked her with: first coming up with a new pack for the US soldier that was lighter and would allow them to move farther and faster. And to look at the combat load and cut it down. Then she would be reworking the training doctrine from the top on down so that training would be more meaningful. Then she was also to look at the basic tactics involving the US infantry to see if it needed changing. Her 3 stars and access to TRADOC (he had installed her in an office just down the hall from him) would give her the clout to get things done. 

The move to Virginia was not really that far but it was very different being so close to the ocean. James, who was now almost 9, accepted the reality of the move but was interested and Liz figured he was happy. Max had found a good job with a friend from the corps working on a project to come up with temporary airstrips; it was interesting and challenging. 

The confirmation hearing in the senate had been more of a show as various Senators just wanted photo ops. Liz had been calm and quiet in her testimony as since the position was new and very flexible there was not much to say about it. She only had to testify for one day and then the Senate had unanimously approved her selection. Which was somewhat rare, she was told.

Liz gathered her crew. Sid, now considered a team leader while still at his Command Sergeant Major Rank, had assembled a Master Sergeant, Josh Simmons; a Staff Sergeant, Zack Watson; and four sergeants, Tom Snyder, Robert Brewster, Ed Walsh and Bruce Webster. All foot loose and fancy free. And sometimes fairly rowdy but Liz liked all of them. She had talked to her retired Sergeant Axton who agreed to look over some of their ideas and give input.  
Jim Harkness, now her Chief of Staff, had collected a few officers he thought would help out. Liz had quietly put out the word to those that had served with her to be on the lookout for mavericks and free thinkers among officers. 

Liz looked around her. She had a grand total of 8 officers and 7 enlisted men. She would have an admin staff of clerks and secretaries to do the paperwork, who she would share with the rest of the HQ staff. She was well aware that they were wary of her; the newcomer with the new position and full access to the boss. She tried to make it clear that she would not be poaching and was happy for any input. But she knew it would be a while before they let down their guard and she accepted that. 

“OK, people, first things first. The pack. I want it ready to outsource. And we will need to get a patent lawyer somewhere to see if we violate anything. Jim, talk to JAG about that. Also we need to look at the combat load. I want only what the average grunt will need not what someone THINKS he will need. That is the primary reason I got you guys; you have all seen combat recently and know the score.”

Sid had held a lot of brainstorming sessions with the troopers for a long time so he was very familiar with what they wanted. A pack that was useful and got done what was needed without being too bulky or heavy. Detachable pouches that you could fill and leave and either put on or take off. They were mostly done but they wanted to tweak it then get enough to have a real field test. They had contracted a local company to do all this. 

Liz was also looking at the standard issue body armor and was not happy with it; for the protection it gave it was just too heavy. She had calls in to all the R & D firms who were working on this.  
The combat load was just flat out stupid. Liz had Sid and the ground pounders cut it back to the absolute minimum. They were going to cut down on water as since they pack would be lighter they would not need as much. Two canteens and that was all. Basic first aid kit which was cut back as well. Tools would be virtually removed as their use was too limited. What was needed to keep their weapon going and that was that.

The helmet was also being looked at. It was also just too heavy. It gave good protection but they needed to find a way to make it lighter. The carbon fiber Kevlar mix looked promising but they needed to check it out. 

One of the big problems was night vision goggles and other electronic gear and the radios. The US army had gotten big on that and Liz thought they had gone too far. But Night Vision goggles were an absolute must and she knew it. Which also meant spare batteries. The same with radios.

One month in she had a meeting.  
“OK, where are we?”

Sid shrugged. “The Pack is ready and the company is starting to churn them out.” She looked at Jim.  
“What about patents and copyrights?”

“The JAG got us a copyright lawyer and he is looking at that now; does not expect any problems. We are mixing and matching and changing so much He doubts there will be any issues.”

“OK. Now tell me about the combat load.”

Jim pulled out his list. “Here is what we can agree on as regards the minimum. It comes to 54 lbs without the helmet, goggles or radios.”

She grimaced at that. That meant they would still be well over 60 lbs. Not that much of an improvement.  
“It is the body armor.”

They all nodded. Jim sighed. “It is 25 lbs and that is that. We have cut almost 15 lbs elsewhere but that body armor is the big thing we have not been able to do anything about.”

Liz sighed. TRADOC had flat told her that there was no way that it would be approved to be dropped. Congress was absolutely stone cold on this. She could see the point but really wondered just how much good it did. Against a typical AK-47 7.62MM X 39MM bullet, if you were closer than 200 feet it would penetrate. And most of the combat they came up against was closer than 200 feet. Now it did very well at protecting against shrapnel from grenades and explosions; and the IED’s had been huge killers in Iraq and Afghanistan. And that was the main reason behind the unyielding demand for it. So Liz had talked to the various companies doing R & D and had asked for a helmet and body armor that would protect against fragments and shrapnel only. She hoped they would come up with something.

She looked over the list of the combat load and then emailed it to former Sergeant Axton to see what he thought of it. She also sent it to some of her contacts with the various British regiments she had worked with over the years. The guys on the crew would also send it to others they knew for their input. She sat back and thought for a minute. Really they had gone as far as they could with what they had. So time to move on to the next issue. 

She looked at her people. “OK. For the time being the pack will wait until we have enough to test out. Combat load we will also wait for input from others. So now we will start looking at the training doctrine. We have copies of what we used with the 101st so let’s get to looking at them and decide if anything needs to change for infantry units.”

The Commander of the Infantry school looked around at his staff.  
“OK. Word I get is that she will be rewriting the training doctrine then look at the tactics used. She has from what I have found out a small staff of enlisted men from the 101st; and I imagine she would also reach out to others she would know, probably in the British Army. So we need to be ready to move when she starts sending things our way. I got a firm commitment from TRADOC that he will not change anything until we have got our input in. Change is coming people and if we try and stop it we will get run over. Anyone that has gotten in her way before has become a grease stain on the road. We will not make that mistake. Especially since I am willing to bet a lot of what she will come up with has been tossed around here before and rejected for what were probably stupid reasons; or got shot down as they went higher. She will have the clout to make it stick so we have got to make sure it is the right type of changes.” 

TRADOC had talked to her about the school and she realized that she really should make nice with them so she scheduled a visit to Fort Benning and to talk with the people that actually taught infantry tactics.

One nice thing about getting a third star was that she had access to a jet just about whenever she wanted to. So she whisked herself, Jim and Sid and went to talk to the teachers at the school (as she put it). As she got off the jet she looked around and realized she had not been back here since she had left aviation school. She wondered if any of the instructors were left; but she doubted it. It had been almost 11 years. She mused to herself about the times she had thought about becoming an instructor. She now knew she would not have been happy doing it.

One thing she did not like about her present rank was all the so called deference and brown nosing it inspired. She made it a point to get informal every chance she had to try and defuse it as much as possible. But it got old.

The one star liked to think of himself as fairly unimpressed by most that came to visit; and to be honest it was rare that they got three stars that really came to talk. But this general was unique and like just about everyone else who met Elizabeth Parker he felt the presence as she entered the room. Which was all the more amazing considering how tiny she was.

“OK. I am here to talk to the pros here about changing training doctrine and also about looking at changing basic infantry doctrine. I want your input on both. To start with I will show you my thoughts on both; what I and my staff have come up with.”

With that Jim started the power point presentation that they had finished up only the week before.

Liz had spent a lot of time talking to Sid and the other veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan about small unit tactics. The training doctrine actually did not address tactics; it addressed how to train and what to do to train. It went with her ideas about simple training programs that forced both officers and enlisted men to be light on their feet and able to make changes on the fly. The tactics of squad and platoon combat had to very depending on the situation. And that was the point she was trying to make. Have a standard core of tactics and then vary them depending on who they were fighting and where they were fighting. There were major differences in how you fought in the jungle vs how you fought in the forests vs how you fought in cities and towns. But some rules were the same no matter what and that is what she concentrated on.

The presentation basically covered the entire spectrum of basic training for infantry through small unit basic tactics. The concept of minimally scripted and controlled training was a very big change. That got a fair amount of comment.  
“You cannot mean just send them out and let them run around?”

“Give them straightforward objectives and then stand back and let them sink or swim based on their own abilities. Basically what has been happening for some time is that we have started to look like the Warsaw Pact and their training films.”

That went over like a real lead balloon as one thing that had been harped on for a long time was how inflexible the Warsaw Pact had been. Liz pointing out that the US Army had been heading in that direction was like a glass of cold water poured down the shirt.

Interestingly the small unit tactics proposals mostly met with approval as they were pretty much what had been recommended by the school but had been shot down at a higher level. The Training Doctrine did grate as they were basically being told to throw out their manuals and start over.  
“People, since we are in agreement with the small unit tactics then I propose that you write it up as a formal proposal and I will push it.”

That brought them all up short; this would mean they would get credit for it.

After several hours of back and forth they came around to her way of thinking on the training doctrine. She pointed out that there were similarities to what she was proposing and what Special Forces had been doing for years; as well as the SAS and other commando units. She saw no reason that the regular troops could not learn the same things. Move fast and hit hard. Do not expose yourself if possible and above all take the initiative.

The one star felt he had to make a comment.  
“SF has years of experience; are we sure we can get our regular infantry to that level?”

“Why not? It will mean throwing some of the previous training out to make room for it but a lot of that was unnecessary.”

By the end of the day they had agreed on most things and were working on writing it all up. Liz had blocked off two full days for this but it looked like they would get it done if they were willing to work into the evening. No one objected and they finally finished everything at 1900.

The VIP quarters at Benning were nice and while she missed sleeping next to Max Liz dropped off to sleep right away. And there was nothing she could do about the fact that she woke up right at 0530. She decided to just go with it and got up and hit the mess hall as soon as it opened at 0600. It shook a few people up to see a 3 star casually come into a mess hall but she just laughed at the shocked looks.  
“Come on people, it is not like I have horns.”

After a bit they relaxed and since most of them were officer candidates they were not as shy as others who had been in the military for a long time so she invited them to sit with her at one of the tables at the back reserved for Brass. There were 9 of them; all OCS candidates that had served one hitch.   
“General, when you were looking at that bunker what were you thinking?”

“I had seen them go in just seconds before. Now there was a chance they had been working on the bombs but it seemed very remote; I was as sure as I could be that they would not be able to do anything. So it was almost target practice as I sent those Hellfires one by one at that door.”

She spent an enjoyable half hour talking to them before they had to run to class. She got up and headed out and decided to just wander a bit. Which is something that no general, not even a three star, is really supposed to do.

She walked into the Aviation School and almost panicked the poor office crew.   
“Just wandering and remembering.” She went to the flight line and scared the crap out of the ground crew preparing the choppers for the morning students.

“Just bringing back old memories.”  
Feeling she had been evil enough, she headed back to the Infantry School.

The one star was looking over the proposals when he got a call.  
“General, she is wandering around the aviation school; the commandant almost had a heart attack!”

“Well, I am not her keeper and why would anyone be surprised she would want to see a place she has not been to for a long time but spent a year in?”  
He shook his head; she was definitely one of a kind but good lord why in the world were they panicking?

The Infantry school had quickly scheduled a show for her and she was appreciative. She spent the rest of the day just talking to the various schools for the discipline. She ended it by talking to some of the Armor School officers; who wanted to get their two cents worth in.  
“Contrary to what you may have heard I believe that heavy tanks will always, as long as there is ground combat, have their place. Even in Iraq in the cities they were a huge factor. And I will always have a soft spot in my heart for an Abrams since they rescued me from that cluster fuck convoy mess.”

About that time Jim stuck his head in the door of the classroom that had been appropriated for her impromptu visit.  
“Looking for a wandering 3 star. They have not yet set the hounds loose but it won’t be long.”

Liz grinned. “Yeah, I know I was not supposed to slip out the window using a bed sheet but hey I felt like wandering around.” She got up and waved a goodbye to the bemused officers and headed out.

Her visit to Benning cleared the air and unruffled some feathers. She reassured people she was not just rolling in and running over everyone.

Meanwhile one of the gang of 6, as they called themselves, had viewed old pictures from WW2 in the museum at Ft Eustis and had noted that the Airborne troops had used carts to move equipment and supplies around. One of the things that had been looked at to drop with the troops were ATVs to move their equipment. Small trailers and ATVs were being looked at but the same old problems came up. You had to have fuel and they needed maintenance. Even if you kept them simple they still took up room. He looked around the internet and found a place that two wheeled carts could be purchased and got one on his own nickel; Liz had told them to do that rather than wrestle with the system and she would find a way to pay them back. So when Liz got back with Jim and Sid from Benning she found them tooling around the area with a cart packed high with supplies.   
“General, this might be the simplest way to solve the problem.”

The more they looked at it the more it seemed right. They could get carts that actually folded into a more compact transportable bundle but could be assembled in a few minutes and carry up to 400 lbs of materials. One of the others had also wondered if folding bicycles could help as well. But that faded when it was pointed out the relatively limited times they would have access to good roads which were a must for bicycles. 

After some debate Liz authorized a buy of 50 folding two wheel carts that seemed pretty sturdy. One thing that would have to change would be to find some or make them so that they did not reflect light but for the moment that was a secondary concern. They were shipped to Campbell and she asked the Division commander to try them out in some exercises.

He looked at the carts that General Parker had asked him to try and shook his head. What next?

But over the next month he was amazed as his infantry admitted that it was a great idea. While being transported in helicopters usually meant they did not have far to walk, it still was a whole lot easier using those carts then it was humping the stuff. And even out on patrols it came in handy as it allowed most of the patrol to strip down to fighting gear only and yet still have their other gear nearby. Of course it would not work everywhere; but most places it would.

The new packs had come in and they had been tried out and found good; so 1000 were procured and sent to Campbell. By this time the division commander had learned to roll with the punches and sent them to one of the brigades to try out. Within a month he was being besieged by requests for more.

Rewriting the training doctrine was a long involved process that took several months once the basic tenets were agreed on. And then they tried it out once again at Campbell, which was beginning to be called Parkers Playhouse.

Liz looked at the calendar and was actually surprised that it had been almost a year since she had come to TRADOC. A lot had been accomplished; and one company had come up with some new possibilities for helmets and body armor that looked very promising. The training doctrine and new small unit tactics and training plans had been staffed and were now being sent to the various commands for comments.

TRADOC had read it first and had marveled how simple it was; it was less than half the length of the previous edition. Simplicity was the key. Even the wording of it was much plainer. And blunt. It straightforwardly talked about killing the enemy and destroying his means of supply and the like. No euphemisms or stupid acronyms. Liz had been very hard on this.  
“An army is meant to defeat its enemies by killing them and destroying their support and infrastructure. This is written to make that plain. It is NOT politically correct.” 

Liz had pushed TRADOC into giving all commands 90 Days to comment. She was not really surprised to see that the regular commands did not have too many comments. But JAG and the Legal types did. She asked them to come to a meeting at Ft Eustis. They sent a two star and a few colonels.

“General, we have some problems with the wording.”

“General, with all due respect I do not care if any of this offends ANYONES feelings. An Army exists to kill and destroy. It is a CRIME, is it not, to Lie?”

Liz bored right on him with this.  
“Is it or is it not a crime to Lie?”

“Yes sir, it is.”

“I do not lie. Nor do I permit anyone under me to lie if I know about it. To use euphemisms is to lie.”

The Two star and his colonels left realizing that they were not going to get anything.

That took care of Legal. Next to whine and cry was safety; they claimed that not enough safeguards were in the manuals. Once again Liz called them to come with a meeting.  
“The SOP’s that are written will be reviewed by Safety. Correct?”

“Yes General.”

“Then if you do your jobs correct there will be no operations without SOP’s that are signed off by Safety, Correct?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Then what is your problem?”

“Sir there are not enough safety measures.”

“That is not the job of those that write these manuals. That takes place when the manuals are implemented at each individual installation. The Army Safety Manual is still the guide, correct?”

“Yes sir.”

“Does this manual contravene it in any way?”

“Sir it can be interpreted…”

“Show me where it contravenes the Army Safety Manual.”

“Sir, it is somewhat vague.”

“It is vague to allow each command and installation to make adjustments so as to fit what they need. Once again I am asking you a question, general. Answer it. Does it contravene the Army Safety Manual?”

“No sir.”

“Then I believe our conversation is over.”

TRADOC looked at his Chief of Staff. “Legal and Safety are whining?”

“Yes sir. But they cannot show where it contravenes any current regulations.”

“So tell them to piss up a rope.”

“Yes sir.”

After the 90 days Liz had her people look at the comments and they did change a few things but nothing major. It was at that point that Liz decided it was time and gave it to TRADOC to sign off on. From him it would then go to the SECDEF (technically the Secretary of the Army but he was just a rubber stamp).

SECDEF talked to TRADOC.  
“So what about the whining I have heard from Legal and Safety?”

“The legal whining is from the same idiots that tried to push those stupid rules of engagement in Iraq. Where basically you had to let the other side shoot first before you could do anything. Means nothing. Safety wants it more specific.”

“Is it valid?”

“No. She explained that she wanted to give each command and if necessary each installation room to modify it somewhat with their local SOP’s. Safety will still have to sign off on their SOP’s so their whining means nothing either.”

“Very well I will sign off on it.” 

It would be a while before all the various commands actually implemented the new training doctrine, but it would come.

Liz looked at the examples the company had come up with. She had put out the criteria that the helmet and body armor should be frag and shrapnel resistant with the ability to install more protection for actual bullet protection. This rather small company had gotten back to her with their ideas.

The helmet was a steel alloy that was lighter than most but still pretty strong; and it would still be cheaper than the current Kevlar helmets but much lighter; almost half the weight. It did offer less protection against bullets but only slightly less protection against fragments and shrapnel. The lack of bulk and the much lighter weight were clearly the tradeoffs. They had sent her 20 examples and Liz ordered 10 of them used for testing of their ability to give protection. The design was good in that it would protect the ears and the back of the neck; it looked more like the WW2 German helmet but there were clear differences. One of those was the new gelpacks for padding; they would not heat or cool like old ones did; were much lighter and gave a significant cushioning effect that would help prevent concussions. They were not gell at all; more like high tech foam that was supposed to last for some years before they lost their elasticity. They told Liz that they had tried every type of plastic available but the weight factor went up and the protection factor barely changed; and the plastic would crack and thus be much more expensive to repair. The metal could be just straightened out.  
The body armor was made of a new type of glass and carbon fiber combination. Not as resistant as Kevlar but much lighter. Almost half as heavy. And it could have plates installed to protect more; as well as the foam type padding to absorb impacts and kinetic energy. Just the bare basic armor could protect against all but heavy artillery frags. It would protect against fragmentation grenades. Mortar fragments could penetrate but would have very little energy left. Liz put a set on and noticed that not only was it much lighter, it was also less bulky. She ordered that sent to Aberdeen Proving Ground for testing with the helmet.

The last one of the initial assignments was to examine and refine small unit infantry tactics. Liz called for the SF and the Infantry school to get together and discuss the possible changes at Ft Eustis and scheduled it for a month later.

At the meeting was the chief of the Infantry school, the SOCOM training chief, and people they chose. They included Rangers and SF and Light and heavy infantry officers; all with experience in the recent wars. Liz had been very firm about that; she wanted no one at the meeting who had not been in ground combat.

The meeting lasted three days and they managed to thrash out a standard doctrine for the Infantry. It would serve as the base for all infantry training no matter where they would go. Ranger, SF, Light and Heavy Infantry would build upon the base for their own particular needs.

The small unit tactics for any purpose would depend on the enemy and terrain; but the basics were the same as regards movement and use of weaponry. The Heavy Infantry had more available to them than any of the others; and control of that weaponry had to be added in.

After 12 months on the job the primary tasks were either done or almost done so Liz decided to see what TRADOC wanted next. He was just about to leave for retirement so he had decided that his deputy, who would be replacing him, needed to take care of this. So Liz had a meeting with the Deputy TRADOC commander.  
“OK. Pretty much got all that was tossed on my plate done or almost done so I need to know what is next.”

“Simple. You did a great job with the Infantry so now I want you to review all doctrines and tactics for Aviation, Armor and Artillery. And combined teams as well. ”

Liz had to admit that the shock on her staff’s faces had raised her spirits some.  
“That is right – we have to look at and update the training doctrine for Aviation, Artillery and Armor just like we did with Infantry.”

They still looked shocked. She grinned.  
“Come on, guys, it’s no big deal.”

Liz sat and watched with the rest of the parents and family as the class of 2022 graduated. Aliya had decided that she wanted to be a teacher. And Liz had no doubt she would be a very good one. Les Atkins was right with Aliya as he had been pretty much from their freshman year. They had been engaged for 2 years now but were firm in waiting until they were graduated before getting married. Les was a civil engineer and they had both been lucky in getting jobs in the Nashville area. Liz was glad since they would have friends all around. She felt the years passing though. She was now 39. Max was 55 but still gorgeous. She had found her first grey hair just a little while ago. Max insisted that she looked hardly a day over 30; she barely had the beginnings of lines around her eyes and mouth. James was now 10 and was as happy go lucky as ever; but he was starting to really get interested in computers so she and Max had a feeling which way he was going.

They had a graduation party that evening at the park they all liked in Nashville. Liz was happy to see that the whole Posse and Crew had made it. Maria and the others had visited as well but had to get back home. Her mom and Ted were very much the proud grandparents. Liz was just happy that she was able to take some time off; the new mission she had been given was a lulu. By the time they were done they would have pretty much re written the training doctrine for just about the entire US Army. But she had to admit that she did enjoy the challenge.

They had decided that they should go over it one at a time starting with Aviation, which Liz correctly figured would be the easiest due to her experience. She pretty much just used what they had been doing with the SOAR and made it a little more general. It took only two months to do and she sent it out for suggestions while they moved on to Artillery. Since none of them had any experience with it she roped in some people with the Artillery school.

But first she had to get through the wedding of her daughter. Aliya had decided that she wanted it simple and Liz was quite happy about that. They had it at Campbell in the park that she and the Posse and Crew knew so well. It was not a huge wedding; only around 70 altogether.

Liz had given Les a hard time; just as the prospective mother in law should. But she liked him. He complimented Aliya very well. His parents were frankly shocked that he had settled down so quickly and were completely in awe of Liz.

Maria, Tess and Isabelle stood with Liz as she waved goodbye as the Limo with Aliya and Les took off to head to the airport where they would go to Hawaii for their honeymoon. Liz felt the tears slowly running down her cheeks as her best and oldest friends hugged her. She looked over at her mother, understanding how she must have felt when Liz got married and went away.  
“Come on, Chica, no more tears. This is a great day.”

“Then what is that running down your cheeks, Maria?”

Liz guessed that in one way she was lucky; she had gotten used to Aliya being at school so that the jarring absence of her daughter was not so bad. But she would always miss that little girl she had picked up one terrible day in Afghanistan.

She smiled at the memory of some years ago when she had been at the Smithsonian to see the unveiling of her Super Apache as it hung next to other famous aircraft. She still managed to find time to sneak to Campbell and borrow one at least a couple times a year to stay reasonably current. Or depending on things were would sometimes make it to Scotland and borrow one there. She felt only a visitor there anymore; no one was left who had been there when she was. They had decided to let those in the 160th and 161st trade back and forth and that was what had happened. She actually did run into one or two at Campbell but many had moved on past the SOAR into other aviation Brigades. The demand for the best never let up. 

One could almost ask why they needed them anymore; since the collapse of the Iranian regime there had been more peace around the world then there had been in a very long time. The brush fires in the Philippines and Indonesia had been about the worst. Though she knew the 161st had had to go to southern Africa a couple of times, very quietly. And the Balkans still acted up as did the Chechnyans. Korea had to the surprise of many just quietly collapsed and the Song family killed by desperate and starving people. It had been a mess and South Korea had had all it could do to cope. The US had helped but in the end it was the grit of the Korean people that had finally allowed the long overdue Reconciliation and Reunification. But China was once again growling; but even there it was clear the hard line Chinese Communists had lost their grip; what few remained. They were inevitably heading towards some kind of democracy. 

Looking around the world outside of China there was only one other problem brewing and it was an old one: Russia. It seemed like true freedom and democracy would still elude the people there. A new autocratic leader had worked his way into the power seat; the illusion of real democracy only a tattered threadbare sheet anymore. The Ukraine was clearly worried and was working at closer relations with Europe and the US, which of course ticked off the Bear. The Russian government was accusing the Ukraine of harboring and supporting the Chechnyan resistance. Most thought that was a crock of shit but the Russians hammered away at it. After years of stupidity, they had realized that they needed to invest in infrastructure in the oil and gas industry and that was paying dividends. More was flowing than ever before; and way too much of it was being spent on military programs. New fighters and Tanks were coming online. Not quite as good as what the US and Europe had, but competitive.

The F-22 was now the acknowledged king of Fighters but its price had meant only 3 wings had been produced. The F-35 was a good aircraft but not as great as had been hoped. The next fighter was in the prototype stage and was thought to probably be the last totally atmospheric fighter; if rumors were true about the successor to other top secret programs. The Abrams block 3 had been upgraded and was still as good as anything around. The Stryker had quietly been relegated to the NG as the reality of it was it was too big a target. The Bradley was looking at being replaced but as of yet no decision had been made on what. But the unmanned world was gaining greater acceptance on the ground and in the air.

UAV’s had made huge strides; but were not yet able to displace manned craft; but for recon it was king of the world. Liz was amazed how far the successor to the Predator had come; the new one could carry a fair amount of firepower and was still very hard to spot.

As regards her first love the Super Apache was still king. Nothing else had come close yet. The regular Apache had been upgraded with the Fenestron tail and other advances so that it was not that much less capable than the Super Apache. The Blackhawks and the rest had not been replaced though there were prototypes out there. Liz actually thought it was remarkable how few weapon systems had been replaced; upgrading and modernizing was the way just about everyone went anymore. The Chinese had finally after 10 years got their first carrier operational and now had two; with two more building. Clearly looking at rivalry with the US Navy. Something to be watched down the road.

Liz sighed as she pulled her thoughts away from the world situation and looked at the paperwork on her desk. It had taken them 4 months to really work on the Artillery doctrine; mainly because none of her people were really familiar with it. But they had gotten it done. She had just marked her second year in TRADOC and now only the Armor question remained.

They had tried to put an unmanned turret on the Abrams but had found out that an auto loader still did not get it done the way they wanted. The Lasers that were being worked on were still too much of an energy hog for anything short of a ground installation or an aircraft the size of the C-17. So outside of a new more powerful engine and modernized electronics the Abrams was much the same as it was. Still, the treadheads claimed, the best Tank in the world. And it probably was. It had not gone up against the new Russian tanks yet. Liz had talked to the intelligence wonks who quietly told her they had information that the latest Russian tank was being oversold. But the Russians had been pouring a lot of money into their Air Force and army. But interestingly they had not put much into their surface navy; they had modernized their attack and missile submarines but not hugely. Clearly they wanted to be ready for the Chinese or for a fight with the West. Ukraine had been also working on building up their military but was no match for the Russians; hence their closer ties with the west. 

The Armor school had moved from Ft Knox to Ft Benning; one of the many BRAC moves that made no sense and saved little money. She and her crew flew there for a 3 day meeting with the Armor School.

“All right we know the score. She was tasked to rewrite training doctrine for the entire US Army and we are the last major area to get the treatment. So it is up to us to convince her we know what we are doing. She will write it and it will be accepted. But we have the chance to shape it.”

The main meeting started out with Liz being blunt as usual.  
“Your tactics have changed very little since the preparation to face off with the Warsaw Pact. The chances of actually having a major tank battle are pretty slim; so most of the training and orientation needs to be elsewhere. However, we will make sure that is part of it. There are still a couple of tank heavy militaries out there that we might have to fight. And unfortunately they are big ones.”

Everyone knew what she was talking about: Russia and China. Really the only two countries on earth with large tank forces left. And unfortunately two that the US had to consider as possible opponents.

“OK. The three advantages of the Abrams were that it was faster than any other tank; the 120 with DU rds could take out any other tank head on; and the DU armor added to it meant no other tank could take it out head on. The latest DU models are as far as we know able to still do that; and as far as we know there still is no tank out there that can fire anything that will penetrate the turret from head on. And well as regards speed that has not changed a whole lot either.”

The top speed of the Abrams had always been OFFICIALLY 45 mph. But on the wall of the commander of the Armor School was a small framed copy of a German traffic police ticket given to a US Army Abrams crew that was tracked on the Autobahn in 1982 doing 162 KM per hour. Which by conversion is right at 100 MPH. The latest model with the new gas turbine engine of 2000 HP gave it a hp to ton ratio of 26 to a ton which put it right up there with any other tank in the world; and its advanced transmission allowed it to apply that power to its tracks fully. It was not much of a secret that the Block 3 when it came out 7 years earlier had gone over 70 MPH. Now it was not smart to go that fast unless you really had to; it was very easy to lose control. But the potential was there. It still outranged just about any tank it would come up against and its latest laser sight system was the acknowledged best in the world. It would get the job done.

The Bradley had been modernized and given a new engine so that it could almost keep up with the Abrams. The new version of the HELLFIRE missile gave it a longer reach than the TOW it used to carry; and just as capable of taking out any tank. Better yet it had the new fire and forget system so that the Bradley could fire the missile and then move on immediately. The 25MM Bushmaster could still take out any vehicle short of a tank head on and could take out a tank from the rear. Its protection had been improved; but it still could not take a hit from anything designed to fight tanks; and no one should have ever expected it to.

One good thing about the downsizing back in 2012 was that enough Bradley’s had been freed up to fully equip every heavy and regular brigade in the Army so that no infantry had to ride into or through battle in anything other than a Bradley. The Heavy US Divisions (1st Armored, 1st Cavalry), had 3 heavy brigades; 1st Infantry-Mechanized had 2 Heavy Brigades and one Regular. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th INFANTRY Divisions had 1 Heavy and 2 Regular Brigades. The Total thus in the Regular Army was 11 heavy brigades. A heavy Brigade had two armored Battalions and 1 Armored Infantry Battalion. A regular Brigade had 1 Armored Battalion and 2 Armored Infantry Battalions. There were 3 mechanized divisions in the NG as well as 3 infantry divisions.

With the problem in Korea gone the 2nd ID had come home and had been based at Ft Riley. So now you had the 1st Armored and 4th Inf at Ft Bliss; the 1st and 2nd ID at Ft Riley; the 3rd ID at Ft Stewart and the 4th ID at Ft Carson, and the 1st Cavalry at Ft Hood. 

The reorganization of 2015 had worked this way: an armored battalion had 4 companies of Abrams and a company of Armored Infantry. Each Tank company had 14. Each Armored Infantry company had 18 Bradley’s each capable of carrying 6 men. The only really vulnerable people were those still running around in the Hummers and trucks that serviced the units and brought up the ammo and supplies. The Bradley Cavalry model had been converted into a mortar and heavy weapons carrier. A boxy vehicle that went with the GMRLS system carried the 120MM Mortars; while the heavy MGs and 60 and 81MM mortars went with the Bradley’s. An Armored Infantry Battalion had one company of Tanks and 6 Armored infantry company’s. The Heavy weapons were attached to the Battalions. The Artillery was still a mixture of towed 155MM Howitzers with the Infantry and M109A5 Self Propelled 155MM Howitzers with the Tank and Cavalry and 1st ID. 

Liz also had the problem of reworking the combine arms doctrine; which had the Air Force supporting the Army and Armor, Infantry and Aviation all working together. Easier said than done.

Liz thus brought in as well the Aviation School and the Infantry school so that they could all get on the same sheet of music. She wanted to emphasize movement and fire at all times; no one should sit and wait if there was any real threat. Shoot and scoot. Never give anyone a stationary target if you can help it. And that way an enemy can never really be sure what you are doing.

The arguing and such went on for a full two weeks before there was enough agreement to start getting down to serious manual writing. All in all it took two full months to get it written. And then another two months to finally agree on everything.

The good news was that the new helmet and armor had performed as hoped and would be going into full production. Liz had been able to short circuit the still messy acquisition process by showing savings and speed. The carts would now be standard issue for all light companies. By the time Liz was celebrating her 40th birthday, all the changes were going into effect. She was just at the two year mark in TRADOC.

The Chief of Staff looked at TRADOC.  
“You are serious.”

“Yes. She has gotten everything that the previous TRADOC and I had wanted her to do in 2 years; we thought she would need 3. We really have nothing left big enough to warrant her efforts.”

The Chief of Staff of the US Army considered this.  
“Well I will need to talk to SECDEF about this.”

“What do you suggest?”

“She would be wasted at TRADOC from this point on. Anything else for a 3 Star is frankly not going to be much of a challenge for her as regards staff or Pentagon duty. But XVIII Airborne Corps is going to move up so we have a 3 Star Slot there that is tailor made for her. And the way things look, frankly, I want our best there.”

The latest SNIE was not looking good for Europe. Specifically eastern Europe; most specifically Russia. The Chechnyans were causing big trouble after being driven underground and virtually hunted to extinction; it turned out that they had been just getting ready. They had launched half a dozen major attacks on Russia and they had all been very bloody and very public. Attacks in Moscow and most of the major cities in European Russia. Russia had accused Belarus and Ukraine of turning a blind eye to them. That was highly debatable but was the party line in Russia at the moment. 

The XVIII Airborne Corps consisted of the 82nd, 101st, 10th Mountain and 3rd ID. However there had been proposals to substitute the 1st Cavalry for the 3rd ID. To give it more power. That seemed to be likely to happen soon. It was also likely that they might decide to attach one of the MEF’s if needed. As well as either the 161st SOAR or the 160th SOAR depending on where it had to go.

Liz sat and contemplated the view from her office window; it was pretty nice but she did not see it. TRADOC had been rather vague about what he wanted her to do next. The last bits of it were pretty much done; responding to comments was almost done as well. The new training manuals and doctrines would be going into effect the next year. So what would he have her do next?  
TRADOC was smiling as Liz came in to see him.  
“First things first. You will be doing a whirlwind tour of our active duty divisions. A few days with each as basically an Inspector. Then after that comes this.”  
He handed her an official message and grinned as she looked at it in shock.

“Knew you would be surprised. But I totally agree with it; as much as I would like to keep you around you would be wasted being stuck here now. You got everything important done.”

Max found Liz sitting in the sofa in their quarters as he got in. This was fairly rare and usually meant something.   
“Ok, hon. What now?”

“Command of the XVIII Airborne Corps.”

Max nodded thoughtfully. “That does not surprise me. Best place for you.”

“Well we move to Ft Bragg. Not too far I guess.”

But first came her tour. Her appointment was to be kept quiet until 1 September; so she had a little over 6 weeks until then. She decided she could get the inspection tour done first. She would take Jim and Sid with her; they would poke around like she did. The rest of her ‘staff’, 2 Majors, 2 captains and 3 Lts and the Gang of 6 would also spread around looking things over. They were well briefed on what to look for.

She decided to hit Ft Bliss first; Then Ft Riley. She would spend a week at each and that would take care of 4 divisions. Then 3 days at each. And they would not be told she was coming.

Liz came off the C-12 and was met by the airfield Commander; who was in shock at the sudden appearance of a 3 star.  
“General Parker. No one told us.”

“You were not told on purpose. This is a no notice inspection.”

Liz went immediately to the ASP and from there the maneuver area, McGregor Range. She found the ASP in decent shape; but had some comments about a few things. She was at McGregor watching a company of Abrams practicing live move and shoot from the 1st Brigade of the 1st Armored when the commanding general pulled up.

General Summers knew he had to tread carefully.  
“General Parker, I was just getting back in; my plane arrived just a half hour after yours.”

“Not a problem General Summers. This was a no notice. Your ASP has a few small problems but nothing major. I notice that this company is using the box formation. Glad to see the new training doctrine being used even if it is not yet official.”

“What do you wish to see now General?”

“My people are looking around your unit now. We can just talk.”

The 1st Armored was in good shape; so Liz spent only one day looking them over before moving on to the 4th ID. Which was not in as good a shape. She spent 4 days and gigged the Commanding General on his ASP operation, his training SOPs for being out of date, and his equipment situation, which was not good either.

FORSCOM looked at her report and then at his Chief of Staff.  
“I did have some concerns about the 4th ID. What do you think?’

“The general has only been in command for 4 months; so let’s give him one more chance. We will do a follow up in 30 days.” 

“Reasonable.”

The 4th ID commander looked at his staff.  
“OK. The good news is that we get a second chance. The bad news is that we will need to show significant improvement or I will not be the only one out. You will all carry part of the can.”

Ft Riley was next. Liz went straight there; catching them by surprise. But both divisions were in good shape; 1st ID and 2nd ID. She spent 4 days looking them over and saw only minor problems. She then went home and rested for a week then hit Ft Drum and the 10th Mountain. In two days they had some write-ups but overall was in good shape. She went right to Campbell and looked over her old division next. They were ready for her and she smiled as she came off the Jet and found the division staff waiting for her.

“General Parker, your old division welcomes you back.’

And they were in excellent shape; but then she expected if for two reasons: one, her old Deputy was a good division commander; and two, pretty much everyone was expecting her anyway.

She hit Ft Bragg and the 82nd next and they did well. Ending up with the 3rd ID at Ft Stewart, and the 1st Cavalry at Ft Hood. They had plenty of time to get ready but she felt they were in good shape anyway.


	25. Opening a Liz type can of WhoopAss

Two days after she returned the DOD announced her appointment as Commanding General, XVIII Airborne Corps. 

She had decided to take Jim as her Chief of Staff; and the rest of her people as well. It was unorthodox but she did not care. It worked out that the XVIII CSM was due out so Sid could slip right in. As a matter of fact the whole staff was going so Liz was left with a clean slate. She began to go over personnel files in order to fill the positions. She wanted people who had been there and done that; she did not want anyone who had not deployed during the Iraq/Afghan wars. She noted that her Deputy Commander was also going out; so she was going to have to replace everyone. Then she found out that the Chief of Staff position was a general slot. So she called and found out if she could get Jim promoted.

“General Parker, it is possible but policy is that he go to command school first.”

“So?”

“It is policy sir.”

“Who changes policy?”

“Good god, just promote the man.”

“But sir, policy…?”

“Major, just in case you have not noticed, policy is not regulation.”

“Yes sir.”

Liz smiled evilly as a week before she left for the XVIII at the TRADOC going away party she called Jim up to the front of the table at the mess hall.

“Jim has been around since I grabbed him to be my XO for the 161st. Kind of got used to having him around. So since the Chief of Staff position at the XVIII Airborne Corps calls for a Brigadier General, we had to do something.”

Jim was stunned when his children appeared and pinned stars on his shoulders while his wife smiled through her tears.

Liz had gotten around to asking Army Personnel about who would be her deputy commander. Upon being told that several were under consideration she asked for them to have input. They gave her four. She looked them over then one jumped out at her. He had been Chief of Staff at SOCOM. She noted he was promotable. She smiled and picked the phone up.

SOCOM looked at his Chief of Staff and grinned. Brigadier General Roy Windom got suspicious. SOCOM had a wicked sense of humor.  
“OK, boss. You got that look in your eye like you just got a chance to torture someone and since I am the only one in the room just get it over with.”

“I guess it all depends on how bad you want that second star.”

Now he knew he was in trouble.  
“Not so bad I will feel like knawing off a leg or arm to get away.”

“Doberman needs a new bitch.”

“Oh, shit.”

Roy Windom had graduated West Point in 2000. He had been swept up a little over a year later in the mess following 9/11. He had done well, going from a 2nd Lt in the Big Red 1 to a Major before leaving division in 2008 and hitting Staff College; then had gone to the Pentagon and had then escaped that with his birds in 2014. He had then gotten more command experience with a Brigade of the 3rd ID. Followed by more staff positions until he had gone to SOCOM in 2018 as a Brigadier. Now 5 years later he was going for his second star and was very interested in his next destination. And worried as well.

‘Doberman’ Parker was a force to be reckoned with. The trail of bodies of those that had not been up to her standards was very long indeed. It was rumored that the only command she had ever had that she had not relieved anyone was her last one at TRADOC. But that was leavened by the fact that the Division commander of the 4th ID had come within a whisker of getting the axe as his division had not performed well during a no notice inspection that she had given it. He had been able to survive when a second inspection 30 days later had shown significant improvement. But it was noted that THAT inspection had not been done by General Parker. So anyone that worked for her was faced with the fact that if you failed you were gone. No second chances.

Roy Windom was a confident man; he knew he was good. But being good and then facing her was another whole story. SOCOM had been a tough boss; but he had done well there in the strange world of Special Operations. Coming into it as only a straight leg had been tough but he had shown them he could get it done. But he had a feeling that that might be child’s play. Being Chief of Staff to SOCOM was not like being chief of staff elsewhere; you are expected to shoulder a lot of the load of SOCOM instead of just running the staff. In many ways he had been more of a Deputy SOCOM then a Chief of Staff. Maybe that is why she wanted him. He had a hunch that being Deputy to Her was a lot like being Deputy to SOCOM. She had gotten her old chief of staff promoted to assume the Chief of Staff of XVIII Airborne Corps. The good news from all of this was if he did show her he could get it done his next promotion would be all but assured. She was the golden child of the US Army and anyone getting her stamp of approval would move on up as well.   
There was supposed to be a Deputy for Operations but Liz had decided that her deputy would take that position as well.

Roy found this out the day he reported to General Elizabeth Parker, commander XVIII Airborne Corps.

Liz thought that the ceremony where she took command was well done; not over stated but not treated lightly either. She made a note that when it was her time to move on it would be done the same way. First thing the first day was welcoming her Deputy Commander.   
“General Windom, come on in and grab a chair. We need to talk.”

Roy sat down and tried to remain even and calm though he was nervous. Elizabeth Parker was 4 years younger than he was and had been a three star for over two years already. Her dark hair had faint traces of grey; he was surprised she allowed it. But that was the only thing that indicated she was 40 years old. Her face looked years younger with only faint lines around her mouth and eyes. She was very tiny; the first thing he bet everyone who met her thought the first time.

Liz had noted he had looked at her hair; she had debated herself on whether to dye it but had in the end decided not to. With her dark hair, it was apparent very quickly.   
“Yep, I have grey hair.”

Roy blinked and then blushed very slightly; he had thought he had not stared that long.   
“Just proves I am not as young as some think I am. Well enough of the fact I do not dye my hair. Do you know why I chose you as my Deputy Commander?”

“No General.”

“Deputy to SOCOM; and while I do not know this one as well as the last one, I know how the SOCOM’s typically use their Chief of Staff. The fact that you did well and was a straight leg showed a lot. So I picked you. First things first; when it’s just us in the room it’s Liz. Roy, I will be piling a lot on you since I have decided not to have a deputy for Operations. You are going to be doing that. In addition to being deputy.”

Roy blinked at that. “Liz, why?”

“I do not believe it is necessary and just means more people who can screw things up. That is a huge problem in the US Army and the DOD as a whole; we have way too many chiefs. That dilutes the message and slows things up and causes other problems.”

He thought about that and could see her point; SOCOM was a place with a lot fewer staff officers than any other major command. Looked like this place would be the same. Well at least he was familiar with it.

“One of the first things is that the Army and DOD have decided that the 1st Cavalry will be our heavy division so we have to bring them into the Corps.”

“Heavier than the 3rd; so we will have to figure that in any deployment situation.”

“Exactly. But I like the thought of a heavier division. There really is no difference between the 1st Cav and 1st Armored. Both have the same number of tanks.”

Roy cocked his head at that and Liz grinned.  
“Surprised that I would so welcome a heavy?”

“Liz, your rep was made with Aviation and the 101st. Not the Heavies.”

“True. But I have had a soft spot in my heart ever since that Company of Abrams got me out of that convoy cluster. And I think that any time we have to commit the whole Corps we are going to need the Heavies.”

“OK, I can see your point. Do you have a hunch about that?”

One thing that had quietly gotten around about Doberman Parker was that she had hunches that had always been right. Call it woman’s intuition or second sight or whatever, the story was that it had gotten her out of a lot of scrapes over the years. Add to that the clear fact that she was lucky. Napoleon had said give me a lucky Marshal over a good one and that was as true now as back then. She was both good and lucky; a powerful combination.

“Yep. Soon as the Chief of Staff told me I knew it was a good thing.”

“OK. I guess we need to look at the difference in shipping then.”

“Not really. Baring anything out of the ordinary, the Pre Po ships will get there first and they will fight with what is in them.”

The full heavy division of Army PREPO (Pre Positioned) equipment was kept at Diego Garcia. It allowed equal time for going to all likely points. With Korea no longer a concern; with Afghanistan never likely to need tanks and Iran also no longer a threat, it had been questioned if they even needed it. So far they had been able to keep it. The other squadron of ships had been sent to base in the Atlantic and was now in Charleston. Every 60 days they were taken out for a three day run to make sure that they were ready to go.

Liz had checked on some things and had made the case to the Chief of Staff that if they needed one heavy division they would probably need two. So she had been allowed to plan in an emergency to use the 1st Armored as well. That would give her 3 light and 2 Heavy divisions. It would take with all available transport assets probably 4 to 5 days to get the troops anywhere; the ships would take as much as 10 days. The Corps operated on the idea that they could get a brigade of light troops plus their aviation brigade anywhere in 48 hours from the moment the word was given; that was ready to rock not just when they actually got there. Liz right off the bat made it clear that to her what was important was when the unit sent would be ready to fight. 

Jim had looked at her the first time they had a full staff meeting. He had done a good job of putting together a staff; Liz was confident that all of her people could get the job done.  
“General, you seem to be saying that you want us to seriously look at adjusting the estimates so that they are different than what was previously used.”

“I am. Frankly what has been used for too long was the moment the last major unit arrived. That means nothing. We need to know how long it would take for that last major unit to be ready to FIGHT. Nothing else really matters.”

They spent the first month doing exactly that. The divisions were a little confused at the change; but Liz personally talked during a conference call about why she was changing the goal posts.

“Gentlemen, it really is simple. Previously all that was asked was when would all your units arrive; and not when they would be ready to fight. Now I just want to know the latter because frankly the former is not important.”

They did not really like that because they then had to figure that out; and they had never had to do that before. And it was harder to do than to just figure out how long it would take to get their people there.

Liz had been looking at the map of the world kept in her office and her gaze kept going to Europe; specifically Eastern Europe. The heat between Russia and Ukraine had not cooled off; intelligence believed that since right at the moment the new Russian president was not totally sure of his position he was using the tried and true method of focusing attention on a foreign enemy. Now the Ukraine and Russia had had pretty good relations since they broke off from the old USSR. But that never mattered to a politician who was looking to hang onto and hopefully increase his power base.  
So far it had been talk; but lately there had also been movement by Russia to penalize Ukraine by messing with their energy supplies. The Ukraine had developed its energy resources sufficiently so that Russia no longer had much of a lever; natural gas had been developed to the point where if they had to the Ukraine could do without Russia; in oil they already were. That fact had been proven when the Ukraine president had flat out said that Russia needed their money more than they needed their Gas.

Russia’s contention that the Ukraine had been harboring Chechnyan activists had been dismissed by both the NSA and the CIA as BS. So anything further done by Russia was due to something else. At the moment there were no movements by any military assets of either country; so that was supposedly not something Liz had to worry about. And the Ukraine had not actually become part of NATO. But somehow Liz knew she needed to keep an eye on it; and had Jim get G2 to assign someone to keep on top of it.

A few weeks later just after Thanksgiving Liz decided to have a Staff exercise for the XVIII corps. That meant that the 4 divisions would bring their staffs to Ft Bragg and the Corps commander would give them a contingency and see how they did.

Liz had a meeting at least once a week with just Jim, Roy and Sid. This was her inner staff where she could let her hair down and really talk. She had deliberately not told the staffs what the contingency would be; and she would not tell hers either until they were all together. At this meeting they were going to thrash out what contingency they would use.

“OK, guys, suggestions.”

Jim shrugged. “With the new criteria you have set up, anything we choose will be new for them.”

Sid agreed. “Take a dart and throw it at the map.”

Roy was looking at Liz.  
“You already have a target.”

Liz nodded. She got up and using a pointer hit a spot on the map.  
They all looked and were surprised. This was not one that had been done before. 

“The staff exercise will be held on 12 January.”

At 0900 on 12 January, Liz faced the staffs in the War game room; which had been built specifically with this in mind. Big enough to house her staff and 4 divisional staffs all in the same room with enough tables and everything else to let each staff spread out maps and documents and the like to do their figuring.

“Our target is Ukraine. A Russian attack has either happened or is being threatened. We will work on two scenarios. First one is a threatened attack; then we will plan for one that has happened. The XVIII staff will come up with options for the second scenario and your divisional staffs will respond. The first scenario is this: The president orders heavy forces to Ukraine. We go first of course. Our mission will be to deter an attack; and failing that hold until reinforcements arrive.”  
Liz then went to her staff. “I want most of us working on scenario one; but I want some people looking at probable Russian attack locations and where we could set up holding positions that would allow the heavy forces to arrive.”

The exercise lasted 4 days and when it was over Liz and her staff looked at what they had found out. Jim summarized it.  
“It all depends on if the Russians are really serious. If they go balls to the wall they can have Ukraine sealed off from the sea before our Prepo Ships get there; which would leave us with light forces and no way to get the heavy stuff through. It would take 5 days to get to Odessa from Diego Garcia. If the Russians attack from the east with the goal of cutting off the coast, they can do it in that amount of time. The defensive line we bet the Ukraine would use would go down the Dnieper River. It would be a strong defensive position except in the south. There are two areas to attack that would probably be quickly penetrated. Then another assault to Sevastopol that would allow them to station aircraft that would effectively seal off any sea borne aid.”

Liz nodded. “OK, I want plans on what we could do; for example the 82nd parachuting in and taking that airfield at Sevastopol and thus opening the sea route. Basically I want to see plans that would counter any likely Russian attack. Now maybe it cannot be done. But you need to show that.” 

The CIA head finished his brief. “Timoshenko has always been a hard liner. But he early on learned that he needed to appear as a moderate to get ahead quicker. Now that he is President he can act like he has had a revelation; only a hard line leader can save Russia.”

SECDEF looked at him. “Save Russia from what?”

“China. The difference between Timoshenko and virtually every other Russian leader going back to the Czar’s and Peter the Great, is that he is not fixated on Europe. He believes Europe is no longer the future. It is the past. He looks East. To Siberia and it’s still mostly unexploited wealth. And he knows that China covets that wealth. China needs oil above all; and other minerals found in abundance in Siberia. That is one reason Timoshenko has not cared about rebuilding the Navy; it is of no use as regards China. If you look at everything he has done in the 5 years he has been the leader it is clear. He gives lip service to the Europe first part of the intelligentsia, elite, military, etc. But he is obsessed with Siberia; exploiting it and above all keeping it for Russia. He believes that it is the key to the new Russian Empire that will be predominant on Earth.”

The president was thoughtful. “He has hidden this pretty well.”

“That is another reason he has looked at us with mostly indifference; and how we mistook that for someone not interested in remaking the Soviet empire. He also sees Europe as weak and not worth worrying about; even the Germans. And that certainly makes him the first Russian leader since Alexander to not really care about Germany. He also sees them as a very effective buffer against any plans we might have. The army and air forces of Europe have atrophied a fair amount; except for England and France. It would take years before they could become a real threat. And he looks at us as gradually once again withdrawing from world affairs, weakening and looking inward. Which is not a bad reading from someone thousands of miles away if you look at what is said and done here in Washington over the last 10 years.”

The Chairman nodded slowly. “I would really find it hard to argue otherwise. We have withdrawn from Europe except for Ramstein and the bases in England. There have been calls to bring even them home. With Korea no longer a worry we have pulled back a fair amount in the pacific. Our primary worry for over 40 years has been the Middle East; once again something I doubt he has any interest in.”

CIA nodded. “They have no need for anything the Middle East has. And he sees no reason to put any resources in there; or indeed anywhere else on Earth except Asia and only the part between Russia and China. Despite our watchful Eye on China, we do not confront them or really even bother them too much; and we still owe them a huge amount of money.”

The president asked. “I am surprised he has not quietly approached us about allying against China.”

“He is much too smart for that, sir. He knows it will not happen unless China directly threatens us. He believes that China is also looking almost solely at the Siberian resources. Which is valid as that is the only place they could get what they need. Nowhere else. And interestingly he sees the steadily weakening influence of the Communists as something that will threaten Russia; with the capitalist factions gradually gaining stronger they will be pragmatic and push to get the resources needed to feed China’s economy. While we see that same situation differently; as things getting better and less threatening. Sure China has two carriers and is building two more; but they have as far as we can tell no plans to build more. That is not enough to threaten us; maybe enough to play defense. Which also figures into his thinking as well.”

SECDEF was skeptical. “And just how do you know this for certain?”

CIA was smug. “For once someone was thinking ahead about 10 years ago and cultivated a young up and coming politician who really believed that Russia needed to be part of the world and not ruler. In the past two years he has steadily gotten to us recorded conversations of Timoshenko talking to his inner core staff; the ones he trusts completely. What I am telling you now is the result of over 200 hours of recorded meetings. It is very consistent.”

The Chairman was not totally convinced. “Is there any chance that you are being fed this?”

“No sir. It would require tremendous effort and some of these meetings consist of all the conversations he had with his inner staff over a period of months. And we have gotten no hints that this is a set up. More to the point, what does he gain?”

“To play the victim; to act like there is a conspiracy against Russia.”

“And that makes him look weak; he is very concerned about that. And it makes Russia look like a victim and he cannot have that. Frankly, there is no good reason to do it. He has very solid backing; perhaps the most since Putin. He has placed his people in virtually every key position not just in the government or military but in the media; in the state run industries; in the larger commercial corporations he has cultivated strong ties there as well.”

The president sighed. “Sounds like for once the CIA really is ahead of the game; maybe the first time ever. Well I guess it had to happen sooner or later. The real question is what do we do?”

The Secretary of State shrugged. “Not much we can do diplomatically; we could try and warn the Chinese but I doubt it would do any good.”

CIA shook his head. “That could expose our source; he really believes that no one anywhere has it figured out and by all public measures he is right.”

The Chairman was pensive. “Outside of making sure all our contingency plans are up to date what can we do?”

SECDEF was thoughtful. “Offer stronger support to Ukraine. Where does his feud with them come from anyway?”

CIA was certain. “He wants his flanks secure; he knows the Ukraine is vital there. He has managed to force all the other former Soviet Republics that matter to tow his line. Ukraine has not. He thinks he has to show them who is boss.”

The Chairman was worried. “Is it possible he would use military force?”

“Russia no longer has the whip hand as regards gas or anything else economic to threaten Ukraine. And they need the wheat that Ukraine sends them. It is possible but there has been nothing hinted at in any of the recordings.” 

After the meeting the Chairman met with SECDEF.  
“I will have plans updated for any contingency involving Russia; with particular attention to the Ukraine.”

“Keep it quiet. We cannot afford to let anyone know we know.”

The Chairman looked at FORSCOM. “She had their staffs planning WHAT?”

“Response to Russian military attack on the Ukraine.”

“Why?”

“Have not talked to her about why. More than likely she was looking for a scenario they had not thought about and wanted to surprise them and make them think on the fly. It is what she does; one of the reasons she has been so successful.”

At a hurried meeting very soon after the Chairman told SECDEF.

He sighed and rubbed his eyes. “I would like to think it is a coincidence but why do I not believe it?”

“She is renowned for having hunches about bad news coming; I guess one should not be surprised. Should I have a talk with her?’

“No. We need to keep this as quiet as possible; the good news is that I doubt they came up with anything that would not have occurred to your plans division. So no need to roust them and get anyone curious why. Just have them look over what she and her staffs came up with and critique it. It is a logical thing to do and would not attract attention.” 

Two weeks later the chief of the Joint Staff talked to the Chairman.  
“Found very little to criticize about their plans. Pretty complete. Now follow on would be needed for more divisions but that is not all that much to do. A little weak as regards more Air Force assets but then that is not what they would be looking at anyway. The naval part was confined to PREPO; they did question whether the Navy would try and bring Carriers into the Black Sea.”

“Would they?”

“Only on the direct order of the President. That is what it took to get them to go to the Arabian Gulf during Desert Storm. They would be incredibly vulnerable during the transits to the Black Sea. Though once there they would have plenty of room to maneuver; more than the Mediterranean.”

The Chairman nodded. He would speak to the CNO quietly on this; the CNO was a former carrier captain. 

The CNO was pensive. “It would be very risky to transit; we would need total air cover and the problem in the Black Sea is that the Russians still have diesel electric subs; even the old ones they have were very quiet. And they could easily send missile attacks as well. It would literally be only in the case of absolute disaster if we did not. Frankly, I would rather fly the squadrons off and base them off of land airbases and leave the carriers outside.”

The Chairman had a quiet talk the Air Force Chief of Staff about airfields in that area.  
“There are a number in the Crimea; most of them pretty good. If it came to it we could base a lot of aircraft there. They have 3 big ones and about a dozen others we could use if we had to. Of course we would need to bring just about everything with us to operate there.” 

The Chairman had a secret group of his plans division on the Joint Staff to start looking at basing a large number of Air Force and Navy and Marine aircraft on the Crimean peninsula. 

When told about all this SECDEF just quietly shook his head and told him to keep in low key as much as possible and above all to make sure it did not get out.

As the winter eased and Spring began to come into sight, the situation in Russia began to unravel. The continuing accusations of harboring Chechnyan terrorists began to really tick off the Ukrainian people. Especially as there were no indications that it was in any way true. And the fact that other nations made no such accusations and indeed Germany was one of several that flat out said there was nothing to the Russian accusations at all began to really build up heat. There were large demonstrations in Kiev and other cities demanding that the Russians shut up. This, needless to say, did not play well in Moscow. 

Another SNIE (Special National Intelligence Estimate) asked for by the President came out in Mid-March. The information from the source inside Timoshenko’s inner circle was not part of it; that source was only shared to the President and a select few in order to protect it. But it was not reassuring; and when the latest information from the source was added the picture began to get worrisome. There were indications that Timoshenko was actually considering moving against the Ukraine militarily. What good news there was came from the fact that the great majority of his inner circle were completely against it. The SNIE predicted more Russian pressure to bring Ukraine to heel.

The President, SECDEF, SECSTATE, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the head of the CIA were the only ones that knew of the source. The President held a meeting the day after the SNIE came out.

The CIA chief was very worried. “Timoshenko is truly thinking of it; of taking the Ukraine by force. His advisors are virtually united against it but he is incredibly stubborn.”

SECSTATE shook his head. “I find it hard to believe that he thinks it is necessary.”

“He considers it a challenge to him. He is very ego driven; and an attack on his authority and influence in any way strikes very deep. Now a problem here is that he still sees the Russian Empire as it was during the Communist Years. So the Ukraine is still to him Russian. That of course is completely divorced from reality; but it seems that he sees the world as he wants to; not as it is.”

SECDEF had been quiet. “The question is what do we do?”

The Chairman was direct. “No, the question is do we do anything?”

The President looked at him. “Are you saying we should do nothing?”

“Sir, I am saying that they are not part of NATO. They have turned down membership in NATO. So we have no obligation to defend them. We do not need anything they have; unlike the Persian Gulf oil. From a brutally pragmatic point of view, it is not our business.”

They all thought about that.

SECSTATE was quiet. “That may be brutal, but it is also true. The damage the Russians would do to themselves would be with them for years. The USSR’s crackdowns in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968, and their condoning of the Polish crackdown on Solidarity in 1981 had huge effects. As did their attack on Afghanistan in 1979. I find it hard to believe that he would think it was in any way a plus for Russia.”

The head of the CIA pulled out another folder. “I have had our psychologist’s work up a profile of Timoshenko. Their conclusion is that he is going down the same road other Paranoid ultra-nationalists have gone. He will become more and more certain that only he is right. And the continuing opposition by his advisors will just make it worse. Once this begins it becomes a vicious circle.”

The Chairman was stubborn. “Once again I ask; why should we do anything? Why should we even consider putting our people in harm’s way?”

The others had no answer. 

Liz kept looking at the map of Eastern Europe; the intelligence coming out of there was not good. The Russian leader was getting tougher and tougher in his language and the people of the Ukraine were basically giving him the finger via large demonstrations. Liz wondered if he was really crazy or stupid enough to move militarily. And if he did would the US respond? The Ukraine was not part of NATO; had turned down membership. So really there was no reason the US would get involved at all. The Ukraine was not a huge exporter of oil or any other critical material. So unlike the Middle East the US would not have any dogs in this hunt. And frankly the Middle East was only a concern because so much of NATO got their oil from them. The US had not gotten a drop out of the Middle East for over 30 years. But Liz still worried.

The President had been thinking about things and had called in the SECSTATE, and old friend whom he trusted.  
“The Chairman has a point in that we really have no business getting involved.”

SECSTATE sighed. “Diplomatic failure is one of the primary reasons any war starts. On the other hand megalomaniacal leaders are the Primary reasons for wars. Which is what we would have here. The old saying was that once the hungry lion digests one meal, he will get hungry again is the reason that you get out your hunting rifle and take care of business. I have been thinking; and have had my staff thinking, what would the long term and short term effects of a Russian Military takeover of the Ukraine be. Russia certainly would become a pariah; but they can veto anything the Security Council considers. Europe is so fractured anymore that I am not sure just how much they would do. Especially considering how dependent they are on Russian gas. Trade sanctions would probably be symbolic and little more. I see no one stepping up as regards military action. Long term if the Russians get away with this; I do not know. But I do not think it would be a good thing. There is no justification at all and everyone would know it. It would just be once again the bully getting what he wanted and everyone else cowering and hiding. Would this embolden China to try and seize Taiwan by force? It could.”

“This may sound callous but I will ask it anyway: in the long term would it be all that bad or just unpleasant and more of an irritant than a real problem?”

“I do not know sir. But if Timoshenko gets away with it then I do not see him hesitating the second time at all. And if the country starts to get ultra-nationalistic again, then it could be very bad.”

“A lot of if’s and but’s in there.”

“Yes sir. But I also cannot see where it warrants us putting our troops on the line either.”

The President slowly nodded. “I reluctantly agree.”

But events have a way of making the unthinkable thinkable.

Europe was not blind to what was happening. While it was more conservative than it had been in a long time, it was not the type of conservative that condoned threatening countries that have done nothing wrong. And Europe had always been wary of an expansionist Russia; of an aggressive leader of Russia. And more and more Timoshenko was looking like one of them. Putin had been a real pain and a problem, but in the end had not been willing to actually use military force. Timoshenko, however, began to worry people in that he just might.

Needless to say it was the countries closest that worried the most; if keeping quiet because they were closest. The Balkan states had finally reached something that resembled as peaceable a situation as they had been in for as long as anyone could remember and they did not want it shaken up. So they began to publicly talk about Russia acting badly. This was picked up by Hungary and Romania and Bulgaria; then Poland and Finland. Belarus had been mostly cowed so they kept quiet but the former Baltic States of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia joined in the chorus. And the tempo spread West. The Liberals, somewhat butt sore at the election beatings they had endured over the last 10 years began to see this as a way to become relevant again and they began to make noise. 

The problem with all this was that it was a red flag to a bull as regards Timoshenko. His paranoia and ego challenged each other as to which was insulted more. He began to snarl back and wave the gas supply not subtly at all. Since it was spring coming into summer that did not work as well as if it had been fall going into winter. The mocking that this stirred up just escalated his anger.

By mid-April the noise was getting pretty loud; and he began to react with more than words. He announced that the price of natural gas would be increased by 25% the coming year to pay for more drilling and more infrastructure investment. And the new prices would start immediately. Needless to say that got a very big international Raspberry. And more protests started to pop up in other countries. Now Russia was the favorite whipping boy across the spectrum.

After the price hike the President called an inner advisor meeting.  
The CIA had the latest word.  
“It is getting worse. Some of his advisors are now starting to agree with him about showing how strong Russia is. Most are still against any real action but the natural tendency to resent ridicule and hostility by drawing together is having an effect.”

SECDEF shook his head. “Just amazes me that they cannot see that they have caused all this.”

CIA nodded. “The ones that do are keeping silent. Afraid of losing position and power.”

The President asked “So what will they do next?’

“They are going to cut off all trade with the Ukraine and recall their ambassador.”

“What effects will that have?”

“Not as big as it would have once had; the two are no longer so codependent as they once were. It will be equal pain on both sides realistically.”

“The Ukrainian’s will not back down?”

“Public support is very strong for President Youslev. He does not dare even if he wanted to. And since they have done nothing wrong I see nothing changing there.”

“What is next?”

SECSTATE answered. “The Left in Europe sees this as a way of getting some political power back; the right never liked Russia anyway. So I see some real economic sanctions starting; and since winter is 6 months away the natural gas factor is not that much of a worry.”

“And how will Timoshenko react?”

CIA was clear. “He will start sanctions right back. A trade war for all intents and purposes.”

And that is what began to happen as April ended and May began.

Liz was more and more certain that things would erupt sooner or later in Europe. The only question is would the US respond militarily. And no one knew the answer to that one. So she just had her staff refine and update their plans.

It was a new experience for Liz; as a Corps commander she was not directly in command of fighting units; though there were a fair amount of support units directly in her command. She did take time out and visit them; and let them know she valued what they did.

The Divisional Staffs looked at the worsening situation in Europe then what General Parker had made them plan in January and they wondered if she had been privy to secret information. Others that knew her better had a different explanation.  
“One thing you get when you talk to anyone that served with her in Afghanistan was that she would get hunches that always panned out. The Nuke incident in Pakistan; she went to the one that was trouble because she sensed that was the one that was in doubt. I think you are seeing that again with Russia.”

The person who was feeding the CIA the information on Timoshenko was having to take extra precautions; Timoshenko’s paranoia caused additional security measures. That was getting beat by using something that the new security sweepers did not consider; old fashioned wire recorders. They gave off no electronic signals that the modern sweepers looked for. It was bulky but the bottom of his briefcase was just big enough to hide it. He would then play it to a special program on his computer that buried it in a phone sex conversation; the digital signals hidden inside it. Porn was an accepted part of that section of the world and no one questioned it too closely, as long as children were not part of it. Thus he was still able to send out his messages; it just took a little longer.

The messages went right to the DDI, the Deputy Director of Intelligence, the effective director of the actual working part of the CIA. The CIA head had ordered that no one but the DDI and one lower supervisor who had been the man who made the initial contact more than 10 years ago be involved in this source. Less chance of it being betrayed or leaked. The lower level supervisor had been relieved of all other duties and now concentrated on this source, code named Richelieu. That had been deliberately chosen so that if that somehow leaked, no one would think it concerned Russia.

The latest one was taken directly to the CIA head; one copy was made and that never left the office; it stayed in the special safe there. Right after printing it out, the message was erased in such a way that there was no possibility of anyone ever being able to rebuild it.  
“Sir, this one is hot.”

The CIA head read it and had to agree. He put it in the safe and locked it then called the president for an immediate meeting.

The inner circle was waiting. He looked at them.  
“Timoshenko has ordered the Military to start to plan to take the Ukraine; effective date 1 August.”

The President was ashen. “Was there any objection?”

“Two of the soft ones did and were told to go along or be removed. They folded and agreed.”

“And by be removed…”

“If I was one of them there, I would have serious worries about what removal really meant.”

Even though this had been slowly coming, they were still all shocked.

SECSTATE was the first to speak. “We have to find a way to warn the Ukrainians.”

The CIA head objected. “If we warn them now the Russians will know and Timoshenko will realize that he has a leak. We could lose a source that we cannot spare.”

“But what is the use of such information if we do not use it?”

“We will have to wait for a time, long enough for Timoshenko to look elsewhere for the leak, like his military.”

The President was firm. “How long?”

“At least a few weeks.”

“Very well.” He looked at the Chairman. “What will the first indications be?”

“Sir, the Ukraine is no pushover, if unable to fight the Russians on their own. I would bet that they will try for a quick move and strike for Kiev in the North and the Crimea in the south. Take the Capital and the only way any real help can arrive, by sea, and it is just about a done deal. Now the Dnieper and the lakes formed by the dams make a natural defensive barrier about a third of the way across the Ukraine. It is only the Crimea that really does not have much of a defense. I would bet the Russians would use Paratroops to seize the airfields then fly in more troops and planes to seal off the sea lanes to the Ukraine. A quick strike south towards Kiev which is only 200 miles from the Russian border, probably another to encircle Kharkov, and they would probably stop at that. They would not want to get drawn into a long war. They would cause as much damage as possible, let the Ukraine know once and for all who is the boss, and then pull out. And that would happen probably in about a month all told. Before anyone else could really respond in a way that mattered.”

SECSTATE shook his head. “And the rest of Europe left realizing the big bad Russian Bear is back and wondering who will get bit next.”

SECDEF nodded. “This would of course pretty much revive NATO in its original form. The countries of Europe would have to start spending a lot on defense again. With all the other added problems of paranoia and increased nationalism due to fear.”

SECSTATE was pensive. “The Chairman asked what business was it of ours. There is your answer. Europe would once again want American troops stationed in Europe as proof of our commitment.”

The President shook his head. “1948 all over again. A new cold war.”

SECDEF nodded. “This would of course make Timoshenko increase defense spending; and coming off a victory like that he would have huge domestic support. And another vicious circle would start of each of us making a move and the other side countering it.”

The Chairman, who had been silent, roused himself. “I really did not think he was unbalanced enough to do this. But I have to agree; if he gets away with it this time he will be more likely to do it again; and Europe will once again be the confrontation place. We will be drawn into it no matter what due to our treaty obligations. Though to be honest a united Europe should frankly be strong enough to do it on their own.”

SECDEF agreed. “Yes they are. But I do not think having large military expenditures in Europe is a healthy thing in the long run.”

SECSTATE nodded. “In the end nothing good comes out of it. And a lot of money is spent there that should go elsewhere. And you add the increased nationalism that will stir up, and it is not a good thing.”

The President sighed. “It really is a pay now or pay later situation, isn’t it?”

No one in the room disagreed.

SECDEF asked for a word with the President.  
“Sir, I think you should know about this.” And described what XVIII Airborne Corps had planned in January.   
The president was dumbstruck. “You think she had a feeling back then?”

“Mr. President, her career is littered with examples of her getting a feeling or hunch and it seems to have been right every time. So I guess this is just one more.”

“And the Joint Staff found nothing to really find fault with?”

“Nothing that she would have been responsible for, like Air Force assets. Or the Navy beyond PREPO ships. The Chairman has had a quiet conversation with the Air Force Chief of Staff and the CNO. They both have been very quietly working on filling in that part of her plans. What I described as the likely moves the Russians would make came directly from what she ordered her people to prepare for and what the Joint Staff believe is the most likely Russian military moves.”

The president sat back. And mused. “Patton always believed that one day we would have to take them on. For a long time everyone thought he was right – up to 1992. Now only 30 or so years later it looks like he was right once again. He believed in Reincarnation. Think that is who she really is?”

SECDEF shook his head. “Two more different people it would be hard to imagine. But who knows, really? She has been incredibly successful; and one thing they both have in common was the ability to see what the enemy was going to do ahead of time. Patton foresaw the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor in the early 30’s; he was one who saw that the Germans would be a problem again even before Hitler took power. Early on he saw that the next great fight would be with the Soviets. Now she early on fixated on the place that the next war will almost certainly start, before anyone else really knew. The only reason we knew was our source; but she did not have it and still came up with the same conclusion at the same time. Does not matter I suppose. I hope that when it comes to all-out war she is as good as he was.” 

“She is our best.” It was not a question.

“Yes sir. No real doubt of that. EUCOM is a good manager, but she is the fighter. Even though she has only been a ground commander of a Division she really shined there; and this will be a case of movement having to compensate for being outnumbered and outgunned. From that point of view she is absolutely the right choice; and the best we have.”

“Very well. I want her clued into the source. Her only; no one else and she is to make sure that no one else suspects.”

The CIA head was not happy to add another, but orders were orders and if she was going to be the one up front she deserved to have all the information on her enemies they had.

Liz looked at Jim. “No idea. I am told to head to the Pentagon tomorrow; and no reason why. To see the SECDEF.”

It had been decided that SECDEF would brief her in; and if she decided she needed to know more they would slip her into Langley and have her go over the file.

“General Parker, you are about to be briefed in on the best intelligence source the US has ever had.”

Liz was gobsmacked. For once the intelligence weanies and the CIA had done it right. Well. Maybe God does meddle now and then. Divine Intervention was as good an explanation as any for the fact that for the first time ever they had the inside track on what was about to happen. 

She told SECDEF she did not need to know any more about Timoshenko. He would not be running the war anyway. What she now needed was to know who the likely enemy commanders would be and what was known about them. He agreed to get right on it and have her briefed in when they had a good idea of who they would be.

Liz was thinking heavy thoughts on the way back to Bragg. She was almost certainly going to war again. Only this time not the little cog in the big machine; this time she would be running it, for all intents and purposes. SECDEF had made it clear that he and the Chairman and the President were going to let her be the primary commander on this. EUCOM would technically be the theatre commander but it was her who would make the tactical decisions. 

XVIII Airborne Corps would be the battle command; there would be no army commander brought in. They would give her everything they could but in the end it was her war. Liz pushed other thoughts away and began to concentrate on what she would have to do. She got off the jet and motioned for Jim to follow her to her office where she pointed to the seat in front of the desk and then sat down at her desk.

Jim blinked when Liz looked at him with a blank face. He had never seen her like this before.  
“Liz, what is it?”

“Jim, this goes no further than us right here until I say otherwise. Is that clear?”

Liz had never said anything like that to him before; and not in that manner.

“Clear, General.”

“We are going to war by the middle of summer.”

Jim was stunned. She just looked at him calmly.

“That was what the visit was about. They have extremely good intelligence that the Russians think they need to teach the Ukrainians, and everyone else that they are still be big boys on the block. Mid-summer is when they think they will move. And it has been decided that if they do, we stop them.”

Jim managed to get his mind in gear.  
“Why are we involved? They are not part of NATO.”

Liz sighed. “This was how it was explained to me. They figure the Russians will strike quick to take Kiev and the Crimea; that way they can seal off any resupply or help coming by sea. Overwhelm the Ukrainian Air Force and control the air. Do a fair amount of damage then leave. Probably all done inside a month. Not long enough basically for anyone in Europe to do more than make speeches. They then go back home and the rest of Europe is reminded of who the boss is. Now Europe will scream and rant and rave but that is about all. Russia has the VETO and the Security Council is therefore nothing. The rest of the UN; not much more. Sanctions? Well Europe still needs Russian gas for winter. How long does righteous indignation last when you are freezing? Now long term is where it starts to get nasty. Europe will of course start to rearm. No choice. Billions spent that could be spent elsewhere. That is not good. Then you will have with that the increase in nationalism. Not a good thing either. And of course the Europeans will once again demand US soldiers stationed in Europe as tangible evidence of our commitment. Overall what the President and his advisors think is a new Cold War. They are looking at this like it is 1948 all over again. No one wants that. They look at it as pay now or pay later. If we punch them hard in the nose now, that will weaken Timoshenko. His people will blame him for all this and they should. Just maybe to the point where he is kicked out or so weakened that he cannot pull anything like this again.”

Jim slowly nodded. “I can see their point. But won’t this war kind of cause all of it again no matter what?”

“Maybe. But they have decided that it is better to act now then wait and possibly have to act later and in a much bigger way. Small war now rather than a really bigger one, with possibly nuclear weapons, later on. I think that is the real deciding factor.”

“Nukes. Had not thought of that.”

“No one has tactical nukes anymore. But they could come back. The Russians will be stunned by our moving like we did. Then if we leave as fast as we came they cannot say much about us being a continuing threat, can they. What this is, frankly, is a wakeup call to them. We are going to whap them upside the head with a 2 X 4. And hope they get some sense. Maybe it will not work and we have a new Cold War. But I agree that it is better now than later. The last time Europe did not act when someone went nuts was in 1938. Or to be more to the point earlier on. When Hitler had his army march into the Rhineland, they had orders that if the French started to move to oppose them they were to turn around and march right back. But the French did nothing. They and the Brits kept doing nothing and Hitler got stronger and stronger and bolder and bolder. Maybe this time we can nip it in the bud.”

Liz began to think about what to do. She had been told plain that the source had to be protected. Therefore no hint of this had to be let out. That was why she had been tough on Jim. For the time being they could do nothing. But she could on her own start thinking and planning.

SECDEF had told her that they would send everything they could to her. She would get the 1st Armored as well as the 1st Cavalry. The Marines would be sent as well. After that it would be whatever they could get to her. But that would take time. So she would need to get the job done with 3 light and 3 heavy divisions, counting the Marine MEF. They had no details yet what forces the Russians would use; and of course the Ukrainians would be fighting as well. 

IF the Russians did the smart thing and take the airfields on the Crimea, the first thing she would have to do would be to take them back and then load them with all the Air Force, Navy, Marine Air Power she could get. To protect the PREPO ships bringing the heavy stuff. Her light divisions would have to hold and stay intact until the heavies could get there. One thing that she had asked SECDEF and he had told her would be a presidential decision would be whether they could strike Russia. Not just attack the forces in the Ukraine. That of course risked escalation. But giving the enemy safe haven harked back to the Vietnam War and to the Afghan war and the Taliban running into Pakistan and hiding. She knew that was going to be a tough decision. She had a hunch it would come down to how well she did. She felt that if she demanded it that it would be approved; but the risks were huge. Yet if she did not go for it, she might have much higher casualties. She would have to cold bloodedly count her dead and make a decision. 

The President called another meeting to see what their next steps would be. Already the military was doing what it could without tipping anyone off. Now for the foreign side of things.  
“When do we tell the Ukrainians?”

The President looked around at his inner circle.

SECDEF was first. “When we hear in the meeting a confirmation that the military has been working on it.”

CIA agreed. “That is the best way. That way if it gets out Timoshenko is suspicious of his military. Not his inner circle. That protects our source.”

The president looked at the others who nodded.  
“OK. That is settled. Now the tougher question. Who do we tell among our allies and when?”

“Brits first; and fairly soon. After that, well, that really is an open question. Poland, Romania, Hungary, and Slovakia all are in NATO and all border the Ukraine.” This from SECSTATE

“We are closest to the Poles, so they should be first. After that the others.”  
SECDEF stated.

The president nodded. No surprises so far. “Will any of them help the Ukraine?”

SECDEF shook his head. “Not likely. For one with the exception of the Poles none of them have the kind of military that could really help on short notice. For two, none of them really want to get into anything with Russia. They have to live with them.”

SECSTATE mused. “The Poles are a possibility. They have a long and unpleasant history with Russia. I would not be surprised to find a fair number of them not all that averse to kicking Ivan in the Balls if they can.”

CIA was thoughtful. “That is a possibility. We can ask anyway.”

“That brings up my next question. Who do we think will come in with us?”

SECSTATE sighed. “Outside of the Brits, no one with any real muscle. The Germans probably have bad memories and frankly that would be very chancy anyway with the Russians. Or with the Ukraine. They suffered a lot from the Germans in WW2.”

SECDEF nodded. “And the Bundeswar is really soft anymore. It would take them a couple months of training to really be ready. Though the Luftwaffe would be good to have; they are still a quality force.”

“Anyone else worth considering?”

“France would be good but I doubt they want any part of this. They really have no beef with the Russians at all. Outside of them no one is really either in the position or have the forces to be worthwhile.”

The president sadly nodded. About what he had expected.

“What is the condition of the Russian military and the Ukrainian military?”

The Chairman took this of course.  
“The Ukraine has a professional military; the quality is quite good. Not as good as the Brits or French or US, but not bad at all. Their army works on the Corps and Brigade system; no divisions. They have 17 ground brigades. 12 Infantry and 5 Armored. Around 500 total tanks and they are decent. Their Air Force is rather small but good. One positive factor is that they know their opponents very well; of course their opponents know them very well also. The Russians have a core professional officer corps and 12 month conscripts. They do have a huge reserve; but as regards a short term war that does not matter. In the area within 500 miles of the Ukraine, they have 12 divisions. 4 Armored and 8 Infantry. Basically around a 2-1 edge in all areas, and slightly more in tanks. Their air force has a 4-1 edge. That is one area where we can really make up the difference.”

The President looked at the Chairman.  
“I want your honest opinion on how you think this will go.”

The Chairman took a deep breath; he had been wrestling with this for several months now.  
“If the Russians do not get total surprise it will be tough for them. Frankly sir if we can get our Air Forces in position early on I think we can stop them. But then what happens next? Do they push or withdraw? If they push, then it becomes a numbers game and they have a serious edge there. Not to mention then it becomes more of a US vs Russia war and then you have to start looking at nuclear options. They will anyway. I think the Russians if they start seeing just before they attack signs that the Ukraine is not going to be caught by surprise will commit more of their military to the initial assault. They can get several more divisions there fairly rapidly. And more of their Air Force. Now what helps us here is Timoshenko’s worries about China. He cannot afford to shoot his military wad in the West in his mind. At a certain point if we can talk the Chinese into starting some maneuvers it could be very valuable.”

SECDEF sighed. “There are a lot of things we cannot predict, sir. And we also have to be very sure of our goal. Is it to keep the Russians from starting a new cold war; or just keeping them from getting what they want? Frankly sir if we were to give the Ukraine a month’s warning the Russians would see that and I doubt that they would attack; maybe they would but it would be much more of a gamble. IF we think that we need to weaken Timoshenko seriously or put him in the position where he could be ousted, we need him to attack and be defeated. What it comes down to sir, is how much of a threat is he?”

The President slowly nodded. “I guess that is the key. Is he worth thousands of US casualties and tens of thousands of Ukrainian casualties to remove?”

The CIA was very quiet when he said this. “Sir, if the goal is to remove Timoshenko there are better and more certain ways to do that.”

Everyone in the room was silent. No one really wanted to answer that.  
The President realized that this was his call, and his alone. Knock off Timoshenko and it is very possible that nothing happens. That violated some laws but did that really matter? He thought of thousands of US dead and wounded and realized his duty to them was to find out. He looked at the CIA head.  
“How long to set it up? It would have to happen in a way that could not be traced to us.”

The CIA head was an old Washington hand. He knew one of the reasons why the question was phrased as it had been. There were probably others.  
“I will have to check on that, sir. But to be honest I do not think I could get it done that way before they start a war.”

“But if we warn the Ukraine and they deter the Russian attack?”

“Then there is a lot more time and it probably can be done.”

The President slowly nodded. He looked at the others.  
“That is what we will do. We will continue to make all military and diplomatic preparations for this war but we will do our best to deter it and then have Timoshenko removed.”

Despite the fact that all had tacitly agreed on working to assassinate a foreign leader, the atmosphere in the room was better. Much preferable that one man die than thousands. 

Liz knew that she had to tread carefully; not tip anyone off. So she and Jim spent a lot of time by themselves looking over plans and preparations. The conclusions drawn from the January Exercises and the Joint Staff critique were refined and polished. With enough time they knew they could have very good plans ready to go.

The president sent the SECSTATE to talk to the Brits at the end of May. He was to tell the PM and no one else.

The PM sat back in shock. There had been no real hint of this. He was going to have to have a word with his intelligence people once he could. But he did agree with the plan. Cold bloodedly it was the best way to do it. Timoshenko was clearly someone that could not be left in control of a major country with Nuclear weapons. He pledged British support if war still came.

The CIA head had found that he was looking hard every day for the sign of a message from Richelieu. They usually came every 3 to 4 days. Since the last meeting with the President they had slowed; now only every 5 or so days. So far no change; but no mention of any more military plans. He was very carefully beginning to look at setting up the operation to remove Timoshenko. After thinking about it, and the need to make sure that it was never traced back to the US, he knew it would have to be a contract job. Pay someone enough money and they will be willing to do just about anything. The problem would be to set up the middlemen to the point that it could not be traced too far back; and then to have the necessary money moved along without it being traced. He realized this would take many months if not longer. First to find someone that would be willing to do it; and then find a way to get the money to him without anyone knowing. He had considered one of the groups that opposed Russian policies; but working with Terrorists had many problems; chief amongst them was the fact that Russian intelligence could have penetrated them. He began to look at members of the old Russian mafia that had been crushed almost 7 years ago. They had a grudge against any Russian leader. And so he began to look for his middleman; the one that would start it.

He knew it could not be anyone with any ties to the CIA. So he quietly had some hacking done; he had come to the conclusion that they needed someone from the drug area to start it. Meth and Cocaine were still a big problem even if the poppy plant was all but extinct. He gave his hackers this criteria; someone with connections to the drug cartels, who needed money badly. He would be paid to start it all; and there would be no way to trace him to the US.

It took a few weeks but his hackers came up with a name. A drug dealer, with some ties to the Russian mafia, who had been caught but had been able to slide some and only spent a few years in jail; and had been able to hide some money. But not a lot. The CIA head carefully worked with his DDI and they were able to launder $5 million. A former DEA agent who had been caught and had turned evidence but was just about broke was hired by an agent who was careful to hide his identity. For $1 million he contacted the Drug dealer who was living in the Caribbean now. He handed over $2 million in cash with another $2 million promised to be delivered once the contract was completed. And the Drug Dealer was warned about just trying to pocket the money and run.

The CIA head by the beginning of July knew that the process had begun. But it was likely it would take several more months to be done.

Meanwhile the meetings were still going on in Timoshenko’s inner circle; it was not until mid-June that he mentioned it again. The attack would come on 1st August as planned. There were some maneuvers and exercises that had been known about that could be used to get the units ready and moving. 

The President then authorized the SECSTATE to inform the Ukrainian president. On 1 July. He would meet with him on a tour of Eastern Europe that had been scheduled as soon as the first hints of the Russian plan had come out. With this in mind. He handed the Ukrainian President a note written in Cyrillic detailing what the US believed was going to happen; but not how they knew. 

That evening the Ukrainian president carefully arranged a talk with his Defense Minister and his head of Intelligence. This had been calculated to make sure no one could overhear.  
They were both stunned; then thoughtful. The Intelligence chief spoke first.  
“There have been some signs, but nothing conclusive. I was looking at them but I had not reached that conclusion.”

The MOD was quiet. “I have been worried about Timoshenko. This does not really surprise me.”

“What do we do?”

The MOD was thinking. “We will call for a no notice exercise one week before they were to attack; we will do it in the center. They will see that our forces are alert. We can put one third of the active Army and the entire Air Force on it; but no movement towards the borders. The Russians will get the message. Their exercises will end and they will have to walk away.”

The President nodded. “The Americans pledged to send forces if the Russians attack anyway. Clearly they hope by warning us to prevent this.”

The Intelligence chief was very curious. “How could they know? They had never been able to penetrate the Russian high command or get anyone close to the Political leadership before?”

“IT is probably easier now to do it. And I would not be surprised if this was not started when that Russian Spy ring was discovered back in the middle 2000’s. They probably wanted to get back at the Russians.”

The other two nodded at the MOD’s observation. It made sense.

The president looked at the other two. “No word of this must get out. We must make sure the Russians are surprised at our lack of surprise. With no time to change their plan; giving them the only option of not starting anything at all.”

Liz looked at the calendar. 2 weeks to go. The last 2 months had seemed to crawl by. She had been given permission on the 1st of July to start getting her staff ready. But to not give details. The last two weeks had been very busy as they carefully looked over all the plans. The current plan was that the PREPO ships in Charleston would go out for their normal bi monthly cruise one week before the 1st of August. Normally they went out for 3 days and then came back; with minimal crews. This time the crews would be still minimal when they went out; but would be increased to full out at sea and the ships would head straight for the Mediterranean. They would be in the Med before hopefully anyone knew. The PREPO ships of the Marines and the Army at Diego Garcia would start moving 5 days before and hit the Suez Canal at 3 days before. The idea was to have both groups of ships near the Bosporus straits the day of the attack. The Turkish government had been quietly informed at the same time as the Ukrainians had. They had also been shocked but had agreed to the passage. After careful consideration no US Carriers would be sent to the Straits; but 4 Carrier Air groups would join the Air Force contingent to be stationed on the Crimea.

Andrei Timoshenko looked at the calendar. Soon his plans would be done and he would once again be leader of a country the entire world feared. He had been careful with some of his plans. The first one would start this day.

The President of the Ukraine looked at the calendar. At noon this day the Defense Minister would call for the exercises; one week before the attack. He had a meeting with him and his intelligence chief; who had been able to from various sources confirm what was about to happen. But he admitted he probably would not have been able to give a warning in time; if he had not been specifically looking the signs were not that great. The Russians had been very good at hiding it. Only now were there more signs.

The President looked at the two men and nodded. The Defense minister lifted the phone.

“This is CNN Breaking news. The Ukrainian capital office building has collapsed; it is believed that the Ukrainian President and other high officials were in it. It does not appear to have been an explosion; the Building was over 70 years old. More to come.”

The president looked at his advisors in the hastily called meeting. The full cabinet had only been briefed the day before. The CIA was shaking his head.

“I should have been looking for this. Makes a lot of sense.”

“But the Ukrainian military will now be on alert.”

“True. But if it looks like a natural collapse then they will go off in a couple of days. And I bet that no one survived that knew what was going to happen. The Ukraine president indicated he was keeping it very quiet. The MOD and Intelligence head are thought to have been killed as well; and it’s a good bet he told no one else.”

The Russian president smiled at the pictures. Of course he had already sent official condolences; appearances must be kept up. He turned to his inner circle.  
“The agents used for this were carefully chosen by our Security chief. Small amounts of explosive were specifically placed. It was an old building. It will take them weeks to realize what happened and by then it will be too late.” 

The Deputy Head of the Ukrainian intelligence looked at the notes his chief had left. Now it all made sense; and he could see it. He asked for an immediate meeting with the Prime Minister, now the acting President. It had been a full day after the explosion; they had 5 days until the Russians attacked.

The Prime Minister was a cautious man. He had already ordered the Military to stand down; go back to their barracks. He did not want to stir anything up. This had been a terrible accident but no need to cause more problems.

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister was stunned at the note the American Ambassador had just given him. He demanded an immediate audience with the PM. But was told that next morning would have to do. The Intelligence chief was told the same thing.

Liz had looked at the news reports then at Jim.  
“Decapitation.”

Jim nodded. “Tactically a smart move.”

At 1100 on the 28th of July the PM was confronted with the news from both his intelligence chief and his Foreign minister. In shock he slowly nodded then sent them away while he thought. He looked at the decanter on the mantel and decided he needed a drink.

The Russian intelligence chief and Security chief smiled as they saw the Ukrainian military stand down. The Ukrainian PM was a weak man and a drunk. Which is why this had been calculated.

The CIA shook his head. “Their PM is a weakling and a drunk. I bet he is getting smashed right now. Got to give credit to the Russians; this was very well done.”

The President was grim as he looked at the SECDEF. “The PREPO ships are moving?”

“Yes sir on schedule.”

“Everything else?”

“The transports are being brought in now; quietly as possible. We are moving.”

The Foreign Minister and the deputy Intelligence chief had met. Clearly the acting President was incompetent. So they began to contact others. But this took time; and the 28th passed.

The morning of the 29th found the PM passed out drunk in his office; a cabinet meeting was called and the Foreign Minister then explained the note from the Americans; and the Deputy Intelligence chief was able to show that the Russian exercise forces were carefully but definitely moving towards their border. In accordance mostly with the exercise plans that had been announced months before; but the Russian Air Force was also moving; and that was not part of the plans. Fear permeated the room. Finally at 1800 on the evening of the 29th The PM was relieved as unfit for the office. Rancorous debate then ensued at who would replace him. The Deputy PM had been killed in the building collapse as well. It was not until 0200 on the morning of the 30th that a new President was chosen. He gave orders for the Military to mobilize.

Liz was deep into preparations; the transports had arrived and the 5 divisions she had been given the troops were loading. She looked at her watch. It was 0800 July 30. She was deliberately moving up the date; she was willing to bet that now since the Ukrainian military was starting to go on Alert the Russians could move it up by at least a day. She was right.

Timoshenko was furious. “How could they know?”

The Security Chiefs and Intelligence Chiefs cowered. 

“We do not know how the Ukrainians know but they do.”

“Launch the attack now.”

His defense chief shook his head. “We can go 24 hours early; but that is all. The units are still a day away from the border.”

“Then they will travel nonstop until they do. I want the Air Force to attack on the 31st as well.”

Liz left Bragg to go to Washington; so far no one had noticed that the PREPO ships have moved; surprising but since everyone was watching the Ukraine and now that there were mentions on the media and elsewhere about Russian units approaching the Ukraine borders no one was looking anywhere else.

The President and his inner council were meeting; they were waiting for General Parker and General Wallace, EUCOM head that had been brought in from Europe for this.

Liz entered the White House for the first time since getting her second Presidential Unit Citation. She was quickly escorted to the Situation Room.

General Ed Wallace knew he was only the figurehead for this operation; while part of him resented that he was pragmatic. Parker was the one that should command, there was no debate about that. He would just hold her coat.

Liz sucked it up as she entered the Situation room and was put right next to the Chairman with General Wallace on her other side.

The President looked around the room. “We are all here now. I want the Chairman to give us an overview.

The Chairman started the video. “Our forces are one day away from the Bosporus Straits. Our Light troops are boarding their aircraft now. The 160th and 161st have also been tasked and are moving. The Ukrainians are moving to their defensive positions to protect Kiev; and are moving to face the forces the Russians will be sending to attack Kharkov as well. The Crimea is on alert; but there are only small forces there. I believe they will get some reinforcements that if we are lucky will arrive just before the Russian Paratroops do. The Polish have agreed to give our Air Force and other units bases to use which is a big help. The 161st and the 3 Air Wings will be there tomorrow. The Navy Squadrons and 3 more Air Wings are going to be ready to hit the Crimea once we take it back. General Parker?”

Liz stood up and moved to the Map on the wall.  
“The 82nd Airborne will drop a brigade on each of the three main airfields on the Crimean Peninsula. Once they are seized we will fly in everything we can. First will be the Air units to make sure we have control of the air. Then the 160th will come in to allow us to move and support more assaults; if necessary to take all the smaller airfields there. The Crimea will be our primary base. We need to give the PREPO ships full cover so when they land at ODESSA they can offload safely. All the troops will be flown into the Crimea at this time; once I can get contact with the Ukrainian command that might change; would love to get them closer to the equipment. Once they have married up with their equipment they will then began to move where the need is greatest; either to protect Kiev or to relieve Kharkov; which I expect to be surrounded on the first day.” Liz paused, and then looked at the president.

“My preference is to not play defense. The quicker this is ended the better for everyone. I intend to attack the Russian columns and their rear area; to destroy their support and supply system. I will have the 82nd reload as quickly as possible and will drop them again behind the Russian main columns to cut them off. I will use the 101st in the same way. The 10th Mountain will be my reserve; but I intend to commit them no later than the second day. We can move faster and better than the Russians and that is our edge. I want to cut up their columns and their forces and destroy them. I will hit them from the top and all sides at once if I can. The Marines I intend to have land at Mariupol, near the Russian Border, and go straight north. The Russians will have to wonder if we intend to invade and that will draw attention and resources.” She looked at the Commandant.

“Sir, I chose the Marines because of their organic support and ability to have everything they need right there. They will be to an extent exposed and will prove a very attractive target.”

The Commandant slowly nodded. “General, I can assure you that the Marines will attract a lot of attention. I agree with your plan.”

The Chairman nodded. “As do I.”

One by one all the service chiefs nodded as well; followed by SECDEF.

Liz took another breath. “I need to meet with the Air Force and Navy and Marine tactical commanders ASAP.”

The President nodded then looked at General Wallace.  
“General Wallace will be theatre commander. It will be up to him to ensure that the fighting troops get everything we can get to them. And to make initial contacts with the Ukrainian military.”

General Wallace nodded. “I will be leaving for Europe as soon as this meeting is done; I will be flying right to Poland and from there contact the Ukrainians.”

SECDEF looked at the Chairman. He nodded. “I have already gotten in contact with the Tactical Commanders for the other services. But I want one thing cleared up as of now. General Parker will be the Officer in Tactical Command.”

The President nodded. “It is so ordered.”

The Chairman got all the commanders together at Camp Lejeune, NC. Lt General Barton Smith was the MEF Commander. Lt General Weldon Briggs was the Air Force General who would command all Fighters and Bombers; and would also command the Navy and Marine Corps Squadrons. The Deputy Commander of AMC, Lt General Joshua Dixon would be the man to take care of all supply matters. Vice Admiral Jack Johnson would be the Senior Naval Officer.

Liz deliberately delayed so that she was the last one in. She took a deep breath and centered herself. This is what she had been pointing towards ever since deciding to reach command rank. She headed towards the meeting room.

ATTENTION shouted the 1st MEF Command Sgt Major as Liz walked in the door.  
“Be seated. I want this over fast so that we can get to where we need to go. I expect the Russians to launch their assault at dawn tomorrow; they will move up their start time. They will probably have at least one full day to consolidate around the Crimea. That is what they think anyway. The 82nd hits them on the 31st. Just to clean up the command questions, I am in overall command of the combat area. General Smith will be in overall command of Ground Forces; General Briggs all Fixed wing forces and Admiral Dixon all naval forces. The helicopters will remain with their ground components. The exception there are the 160th and 161st which will be under my personal command. Our initial goal is to secure the Crimea; then get all available fighter and bomber assets there. The exceptions to those are the Units that are basing out of Poland. At this time I am reluctant to put any of our Aviation Assets on the mainland. General Briggs, what is your take on that?”

“I agree General. The distances are such that with the exception of the forces in Poland everyone is almost at point blank range for aircraft. My worry is on the mainland opposite of the Crimea. There are several airfields there. Will we be allowed to attack them?”

Liz grimaced. “Not at this time due to escalation fears. But General, the minute you believe it is critical that we do let me know and I will go straight to the president on it.” 

He nodded.

“General Smith, you got my initial plan?”

“Early this morning, General, and my staff have gone over it.”

“Questions or comments?”

“We are in agreement that at this time it’s the best we can do until the situation clarifies itself as the Russians attack.” 

“The landings on Mariupol?”

“Risky but I agree with the reasoning. As long as we have at least a neutral situation in the air I am not worried.”

“Admiral Johnson?”

“General, I see no naval problems as long as we can get the PREPO ships in. As regards the landings, I am worried about any Russian submarines but I am not sure what we can do beyond our standard Anti-submarine tactics.”

“Admiral, if you want something else let me know.”

“We will have half a dozen anti-submarine ships and that is all that is within range. Really nothing else we can do.”

Liz nodded. No use worrying about something you can do nothing with.  
“General Dixon, your concerns?”

“General Parker, it all comes down to how long this will last. As long as we do not lose any ships, we should have enough of everything to operate without resupply for 2 weeks. After that we will need more.”

Liz nodded again. “Air Transport command will have aircraft on call for critical parts and needs. As long as you do not need too much or anything too large we should be OK. I do not plan on intensive combat continuing that long. But this is war so any plan made now can be shot to hell tomorrow.”

They all knew the truism of that comment. Liz looked at Admiral Johnson.  
“What is the ETA on the two America Class ships with all the Marines Helicopters and F-35B’s?”

“They are right behind the PREPO ships and in front of the Marine MEF ships. They should all arrive tomorrow evening and be waiting for the cover of our aircraft to move in.”

Liz looked at General Briggs. “How do you see things General?’

He took a deep breath. “I believe that the Ukrainians, as long as they do not get caught on the ground, will do a good job of chewing up the Russian Air Force. Probably more than the Russians think. Our Aircraft arrive in Poland tonight. They will strike tomorrow. I think that until we get the Crimean airfields in operation it will be dicey.” At that moment a Marine officer came into the room and went directly to Liz and handed her a message. She looked at it and grinned – it was a feral grin that impressed everyone in the room. She looked up.  
“The Turks have agreed to let us stage Aircraft around Ankara. General Briggs?”

“Great news. I was hoping but not expecting that. We can cover the Crimean area well from there. We have aircraft on the way and they can land at Ankara and refuel and be ready. General, with your permission?”

“GO.” He left the room almost at a run. Liz smiled. This was a more confident smile.

“So far so good. OK. Any more questions?”

There was silence. “Very well let’s get the hell out of here.” 

That had taken 35 minutes all together. Liz waited until all the others left and stood and looked at the map again. Her C-20 was waiting for her and her staff was already on board. She was glad they had modified them for air refueling; so they would head to Ankara first.

At 0500 31 July the Ukrainian Central Air command was jammed suddenly. The General in charge swore and hit the alert button. All airfields were expected to be empty in 30 minutes. He went to the operators.  
“Is there anything you can do?”

“We can go for short gain and get some return, but that will only be good from about 50 miles in from wherever the radar tower is.”

“Do so. Show the returns from our borders.”

Within 15 minutes they could see blips heading their way.  
“How long to our border?”

“At present speed 2 minutes.”

Two minutes later the radar screens began to go blank. The General grimly nodded. The Russians had destroyed them.  
“Shut down all other radars NOW.”

If they were using HARM missiles that could save some units for later use. 

The Acting Ukrainian President had moved to the Civil Defense shelter. His staff believed that the military command posts would be targeted but possibly not this one; and it was about as well protected. He looked at the acting Defense Minister.  
“What news?”

“Our radar installations on the border have been destroyed. Two airfields already hit; but we got all our aircraft off the ground first. It will be light in 15 minutes; already our fighters are engaging.”

“How long until the ground attack?”

“Sometime this morning, sir; not sure just how far away they are. All our border units are on full alert; with orders to fire and retreat; make contact and try and slow them down.”

“The Americans?”

“They will be moving to attack with their fighters very soon. They are bringing their AWACS aircraft in close. I have already made arrangements for our fighter controllers to coordinate with them.”

Another officer came in with a message and handed it to the Defense Minister. He grimaced.  
“Sevastopol reports paratroopers attacking.”

“Can they hold?”

“No sir. There is only a little more than a battalion there with some militia; the same at each of the three main airfields. We expect the Russians to put a full brigade of paratroopers on each.”

“Is there any good news?’

“Sir, the Americans talked the Turks into letting them base there. They will be hitting the Crimea today. Details are as yet sketchy. I expect contact from their commander within the hour.”

“General Parker?”

“Yes sir. While their General Wallace is their theatre commander, it has been made clear that SHE will be the commander in fact.”

“Is she really as good as the media claim?’

“Sir she has been extremely successful at all areas of command.”

“Let us hope that continues.”

Liz’s plane landed at Ankara 9 hrs after it took off; which was 1700. The seven hours added to that made it 1100 31 July. She got off the plane and greeted the other Commanders who were all there. They quickly huddled in the Air Force General’s plane which was bigger.

Soon as they got in Liz looked at General Briggs.  
“Air situation.”

“The Ukrainians did better than many thought they would; not as good as they had hoped. I believe they probably have about 40% left. They managed to keep three of their airfields in the west operating and got their fighters down there. I would estimate that for the 65 modern fighter aircraft they lost, they got at least a 2-1 kill ratio. I am willing to bet that the Russians are not happy.”

“Ours?”

“We had them wait until the last of the Ukrainians landed and the Russians sent their next wave, which was about an hour ago. So far it looks good; numbers are not yet more than an estimate.”

Liz decided to not push; really did not matter anyway. She looked at Smith.  
“Ground?”

“They crossed the borders at 0900. Nothing surprising. A direct thrust south to Kiev; light resistance on the border which I bet means that they were ordered to maintain contact. Satellites show they are 20 miles in already. The Ukrainians did manage to lay some mines; that accounts for the slow movement there so far. That thrust is about 40 miles from Chernigov. I would estimate they reach that city by midafternoon if the Ukrainians do not try and fight more. At this rate they would be at Kiev by tomorrow morning or afternoon; but I believe once night falls the Russians will slow even more; and I bet that is when the Ukrainians will start to attack them. The other ground assault is an attempt to surround Kharkov; as it looks right now that will happen either late this afternoon or early this evening. No other ground assaults so far.”

“No subsidiary assault towards Kiev?”

Smith grinned. “No sir. And no indications that they will either. Sir they are very confident; they are making very little attempt to force the Ukrainians to divert forces elsewhere. Frankly it is not a very smart campaign so far.”

Liz nodded. “Napoleon said it is not polite to interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. I intend to be very polite.” She looked at the Admiral.

“Naval?”

“All ships are now in the Black Sea; standing off waiting for the all clear to go for Odessa.” 

Liz took a deep breath. “I authorized the 82nd to move at once; they will be hitting the Crimean airfields in one hour. General Briggs, what cover will they have?”  
“All three wings of my F-35’s will cover them; the Marine and Navy aircraft are the backstop. Sir, with a separate AWACS here to coordinate, I do not see much trouble covering them.”

Liz nodded. Now for the first hard decision. She looked at the Admiral.  
“Start the ships moving to Odessa.”

He nodded. It was risky but it was the right move.

Liz looked at her communications officer, Major Tolliver. “When will I have contact with the Ukrainian high command?”

“Making contact now, Sir.”

“Very well. I want the Marine Landing force moving at the same time, Admiral.”

“Yes General.” Liz nodded and looked around. “OK, time I talked to the people we are trying to help.”

Timoshenko glared at the Air Force commander. “What do you mean the air situation is uncertain?”

“American Fighters have shown up in large numbers; we are engaging them now.”

At that moment a pale Naval officer came up to Timoshenko.  
“Sir, the Americans have ships in the Black Sea; we have been able to identify numerous transport ships. It is their PREPO ships.”

“Why was this not seen sooner?”

“Sir you ordered to concentrate our satellites over the Ukraine and the Crimea; this was outside of their range.”

“And no one else was looking?”

“Apparently not sir.”

He looked furiously at the Air Force chief. “Attack them!”

That was easier said than done as three full wings of F-35s, staggered in sequence to keep one in the air at all times, was a very heavy CAP to penetrate.

Liz sat in the command chair aboard her aircraft and contacted the Ukrainians.  
“General Parker, I am acting President Yuri Chernenko. I and my people thank you for your help. What are your intentions?”

“Sir, can you put this on speaker phone?”

“Ah, yes. It is done. My acting Defense Minister and chiefs of Army and Air Force are listening.”

“We will be landing our 82nd Airborne on the Crimea just about as we are speaking. They will retake the airfields. We will then start to move in our aircraft and other resources. Our PREPO ships are enroot to ODESSA and will be there by this afternoon. Our Marines will be landing further down the coast. I will not say more as it is just barely possible that the Russians can intercept this.”

“That is understood. We will make sure the port is ready for them. My Air Force is already cooperating with yours; but we need to talk as regards the ground combat.”

Liz nodded to herself. General Smith was the overall ground commander; but she needed to talk to them face to face as well. It was risky but had to be done.

“I and my ground commander will be in country this evening. We need to coordinate where to meet.”

“Yes; we need to make sure this is not found out about. My Army commander will work on this with yours for a meeting.”

“Agreed. Just hang on Mr. President; we will get there.”

“I pray that is so, General.”

Liz had gotten the Admiral and General Smith together. They would wait for the early reports of how the 82nd was doing. She had another thought and looked at the Admiral.

“At full speed, when will the America and the United States be within strike range of the Crimea?”

“One hour, General.”

“Can we send the 160th and 161st Super Apache’s with them? That would give us 96 Super Apache’s to support the 82nd.” 

He took a deep breath. “That will be tricky; but I think it’s possible.”

She nodded. “Then do so.”

The 82nd hit the airfields even as they were talking; landing just a half a mile away; and the Navy and Marine Fighters were all over the airfields shooting up everything in sight just before they landed. There were 2 squadrons of F-35’s at each airfield; and they were very liberal at shooting.

Within one hour of landing, all three brigades were almost on top of the airfields.

1st Brigade had drawn Sevastopol and their commander was looking at the smoking main tower from less than a quarter mile away. The Russian Paratroopers had been roughly handled by the locals; and now his men were making very good progress. He just wished he had more air support that he could control. Then his deputy signaled him.  
“Sir! The 160th 1st Battalion is on the horn; they are 30 minutes away and want to know what we need.”

“Tell them we need the actual tower hit; and anything to the north of that is a target if it is moving.”

Liz sat back and let out the breath she had been holding. The 1st Brigade after 3 hours of fighting had Sevastopol secured. The other two were already secured. She looked at her Support commander, General Dixon.  
“Get everything moving you can to those airfields.”

She then looked at her staff. “What about the smaller ones?”

“The Russians had not moved on them yet.”

“I want the 160th to start moving people to those other airports. Get them secure and start getting them ready for our Helicopters.”

She looked at the commander of the 10th. “General Diggs, start securing those airfields.”

“Yes sir.”

The President had gone on the air at Midnight eastern and had told the American People he had sent the US Military into combat.   
“Almost 90 years ago another leader of a European country started to try and take other countries. If he had been stopped early, as many as 50 million people might have lived that otherwise died. I and others have decided that it will not happen again. The United Kingdom will be sending forces; and Poland and Turkey are also supporting us. Naked aggression for no reason cannot be allowed to stand. The Ukraine has not attacked anyone; has not harbored terrorists; is a democracy. It is no threat to a peace loving country. We cannot stand by and do nothing.”

Then the SECDEF came on and listed the forces that were being used. It had been decided that the Russians would have figured out who had come to the party by now.

“American forces are under EUCOM, General Ed Wallace. The commander on the ground and the commander in tactical control is General Elizabeth Parker, commander of XVIII Airborne Corps. The 10th Mountain; 82nd Airborne; 101st Airborne; 1st Cavalry Division, 1st Armored Division and the Marines 1st MEF containing the 1st Marine Division are the ground forces involved.”

Liz’s friends and family sat and worried and prayed.

“General, this is too big of a risk.”

“General Briggs?”

“Sir, I believe the risk is relatively minimal at night. But still not negligible. If the Russians somehow get word, they do have dedicated night aircraft.”

“General we cannot afford to lose either of you and with all due respect to General Smith, especially not you. No offense General.”

“None taken. We have to speak to them face to face and to plan so our forces work together.”

Liz was thinking. Then she slowly smiled. Jim and her staff got a bad feeling from that smile. She looked at General Smith.  
“Ever ridden in a Super Apache?”

“Liz this is nuts.”

“On the contrary; it is the best answer. Any passenger plane is a target; and like a fighter needs an airfield. A helicopter does not. The 160th brought 3 Spares. I can take one of them. And they can send a couple others just in case. But this way I can get to Kiev in a little over 2 hours balls to the walls and land right at their HQ.”

“Liz, still.”

“War is a risky business Jim. This actually allows me the least amount of risk. And with the digital communications of the Apache I can keep in contact all the way there and back. I intend to head back to the Sevastopol airport or one of the others. Probably will drop General Smith off on the America; he will want to talk to the Marines before they make their landing. This solves a number of problems in one go.”

Liz was determined and Jim finally acknowledged defeat. The meeting after that was hurried. It was almost dark. She looked at the briefer.  
“What forces have been identified?”

“There are 4 Armored and 2 Infantry or what they call Motor Rifle Divisions attacking towards Kiev. 4 Infantry divisions have just about encircled Kharkov, with 1 Armored Division moving up to support them. There are two more Infantry divisions just across the border centrally located so as to be able to quickly move to support either attack.”

“What forces have they left to guard the rear of the movement towards Kiev?”

“They have partialed out the two infantry divisions. Not a very thick screen.”

Liz slowly nodded. Just what she had hoped for.

Liz could not help the broad smile as she looked at the Super Apache she was going to fly. It had been over six months but she knew it like the back of her hand. It was a ship that was almost new, but had about 50 hours on it and had just been serviced. It had even been taken up for a 30 minute check flight. She looked at General Smith. He was looking at her with a cocked eye.

‘Damn she looks happy. But I cannot complain; she is still probably the best in the world in one.’

“Let’s rock General.”

Liz realized that she was never quite as happy as when she was tooling a Super Apache through the air. They were taking off with maximum load; the fuel gave them the range to easily get to the Ukrainian command post south of Kiev and back to Ankara if they had to; but Liz had decided to land on the America so that was about 200 miles shorter. They took off at 1900. Liz and two others from the 160th. They had been flown back to Ankara while spare pilots flew their Apaches and they took the two spares and Liz the third. They were able to hold at just about 190 MPH due to being at sea level and maximum takeoff weight.

One thing this gave Liz was more time to talk to General Smith one on one; and they could discuss their plans.

General Smith found it very strange in the front seat of a Super Apache at about 20 feet above the Black Sea moving at almost 200 mph.

The AWACS flying out of ANKARA had been told of the small flight; they could barely get a reading on something; which relieved General Briggs. If the AWACS could just barely see them; and was looking right there; no one else could at all. If the Russians had a satellite they might see something but only if they were looking for it.

The Ukrainian president looked at the Map. Kharkov was surrounded. The drive for Kiev was less than 100 miles away; the Russians were still moving at night but very slowly. He had ordered that the majority of the Army prepare to defend Kiev. He looked at the Army commander.  
“What is your estimate?”

General Andreyeev was calm but resigned. “Our Defensive position is quite good; but we will be outnumbered in tanks at least 2-1; and overall 3-1. Without help we will not be able to hold. The terrain around there is flat; and they can move along the flank before choosing where to attack. We will have to stretch and thin our lines. It has been dry and will not change; a dry spring means the river is low; it will not be hard for them to ford. They have brought large amounts of bridging equipment with them. We can blow the bridges but frankly I would rather not; force them to use the bridges and we know where the attacks will come.”

The President nodded, not surprised. He had served in the Russian army as a young man; he understood brute force very well.  
“When will they arrive?”

“We are assuming they will come with helicopters. Since the coordinates are nearby. They will be contacting us when they are within 15 minutes.”

Liz and the general had pretty much talked themselves out after the first hour. So now she could just enjoy flying. She figured she needed to find enjoyment wherever she could for the time being. She checked her watch and then the electronic map. Time.

“Valkyrie Lead to Headquarters; we are 15 minutes out.”

“Valkyrie Lead we read you clearly. If you wish you can move from the previous point at 165 degrees and 2 clicks and you will have a short walk.”

“Roger that Headquarters; will do.”

The President and his MOD looked at each other. That had been a woman’s voice; so she was close. They moved to the elevator that took them up from the underground command post. Upon reaching the top, the security detail fanned out and checked the area once again. Just to make sure. The Russians had managed to attack the command position once; they could try again.

Liz used the gun site and could clearly see what the satellite pictures had seen; they had been pretty sure that was where the command post was even without the coordinates given. It was about 10 miles south of Kiev and to the west slightly; on the west bank of the river. She brought her Super Apache right to where a man with a flashlight was signaling. Landed and shut down. She smiled and told General Smith.  
“Show Time.”

The MOD exclaimed. “Those are their Super Apache’s. Three of them. I wonder…”

The President was about to ask him what he meant when the lead helicopter opened up its hatches. From the front appeared a rather large man; in typical American uniform. But from the rear seat…

Liz took off her flight helmet and put on her Green Beret. She made it a habit, since it had been presented to her, to wear it when she felt like it. Tonight was a night for it. 

In minutes they were whisked downstairs to the command room.

The President formally welcomed them.  
“On behalf of the Ukrainian people, we thank America for their timely help. General Parker, General Smith, welcome to the Ukraine.”

Liz smiled. “Thank You, Mr. President. I believe with a little luck we can end this war within a week.”

The Army Commander spoke. “I would indeed like to hear your plan, General Parker.”

Liz nodded and produced a packet and spread the map over a convenient table. General Smith showed them the plan.  
“The 1st Marine Division will land here at Mariupol and head straight north. They will make a speed run tonight to get through the Kerchenska gulf. I believe in two days we can be in contact with the Russian forces surrounding Kharkov. I see no reason they will not be able to relieve that city.”

Liz took over. “The PREPO ships are just about at the port now. It should take them only one day if things go well to unload. The next day they will be able to start to move north and I believe they will get to the outskirts of Kiev about the same time as the Russians will. They are the 1st Armored and 1st Cavalry.”

General Andreyeev began to see the plan. “You wish to attack their flank and drive it in?”

“Not precisely. I am going to drop the 101st and 82nd behind the main body and surround them.”

The General could not help the dropped jaw as did every other officer in the room.  
Liz smiled. It was her feral smile; the smile of Nemesis.   
“What I want is for the Ukrainian Army to hold just above Kiev, along the river; they will form two sides of the box. The two divisions moving up will form the third side; and the two airborne divisions will form the fourth. The Russian tanks will run out of gas very quickly. The two divisions will be dropped 50 miles from their main body. By satellite we have identified where their main fuel dumps are and they will be destroyed. The two airborne divisions will make sure they get no more. The newest Russian tank only has a 100 mile range at most on one tank of fuel. Tanks without fuel are nothing but an annoyance.”

General Andreyeev took a deep breath. He looked at Liz.  
“You are serious?”

“Deadly serious. This way no one has to fight a protracted ground battle and suffer thousands of casualties. Your forces have delayed the Russian spearhead sufficiently so this is possible. My intention is not to hold; but to destroy the Russian advance. Capture the finest part of their army. Humiliate them. Not just defeat them.”

“General. What are your plans?”

“The Americans are at least 5 to 7 days away from getting to Kiev. By the time they are close we will have it surrounded and we can threaten to destroy it if they do not negotiate. This will not quite be the victory we had hoped but it will still be substantial. We will hold the Capital of Ukraine and its second largest City as well.”

“Very well. Do not fail me.”

Liz and General Smith spent just over two hours there and then headed back. By the time they had left the Ukrainian general staff was very much in favor of the plan.

Liz got to the America and dropped off General Smith and then moved to Saki Naval Airfield where the 160th had gone. As well as a lot of other helicopter assets from the other divisions. She quickly gathered the commanders of all the Aviation brigades. They had, including the 160th, 7. She was going to have the 161st move to near Kiev as well. So that would give them 8.

Meeting in a conference room at the Naval Base Liz looked at the Brigade commanders.  
“OK. This is my plan. The 82nd will parachute in; but the 101st will have to ride in on Helicopters. Using every single one we have, some from the Ukraine and some from the Marines, we can move the 101st in one go to where I want it. The second one will be moving supplies. It will be the largest heliborne attack in history. And if necessary we will do it again and take the 10th if it is needed.”

“But general, we do not have the range for that.”

“You have the range from just south of Kiev, correct?”

“Yes sir.”

“We will fly the 101st there and refuel. The Russians will think they will be used for reinforcement of the Kiev Defenders. And then they will get another surprise.” 

She then hopped in her Apache and went to Sevastopol, where the 82nd had concentrated along with the 10th. The 101st at the large airfield in the middle of the peninsula. She quickly hoped around the various camps using her borrowed apache.

SECDEF looked at the map. “The PREPO ships are unloading today?”

The Chairman nodded. “Actually they pushed the ships to their limit and a little beyond and got there several hours early; and they started to unload last night. So far so good. By the end of Today two full heavy divisions will be ready to move out tomorrow.”

“Air situation?”

“We now have control of the Air; they are basically trying to protect their units and not going anywhere else in the Ukraine. Which is fine with us for the moment.”

“General Parker’s plan is very aggressive and risky, isn’t it?”

“Yes sir but I agree it gives us the best chance to end this without there being protracted heavy battles with thousands of casualties.”

Liz had managed to get some sleep early that morning when Jim had flat out told her she was wrong. The Staff backed off; no one wanted to be around to be hit by flying pieces of General Harkness when Doberman tore him apart.

“Liz you are exhausted. Tired Generals make mistakes and you are a very tired General. You are not Super Woman.”

Liz started to growl and then stopped. “You are right. Give me 4 hours.”

After she went to the tent that had been put aside for her, Jim looked at the others.  
“As long as nothing comes up, let her sleep.”

The Deputy Commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps looked at Jim in admiration.  
“You are the bravest sonuvabitch around. No doubt about it. But what do you want me to tell your wife after Doberman turns you inside out, rips off your head and craps down your throat?”

“Tell her I thought it sounded like a good idea at the time.”

Liz groaned and slowly rolled over on her bunk and almost fell off. She looked around; groggy. She looked for her watch and read it once; then again. Suddenly very awake she got ready to storm out and tear Jim to pieces. Then she stopped and softly laughed. She had been asleep for 9 hours. She felt a lot better. But hungry as hell. She had taken a shower at the portable ones that had been quickly set up in the huge camp that was at the moment the HQ for the XVIII Airborne Corps. She would have to remember to see to it that General Dixon got props; he had gotten things set up very fast. She quickly dressed and poked her head out of her tent. Her security detail, which consisted of a full A team, was as usual nearby and watchful. Something she had to get used to full time. The Captain and commander of the team saluted and asked.  
“Something to eat, General?”

“Ya. Let’s go.”

Liz spent another hour talking to her troops in the Mess tent; she right off the bat had told the support personnel to not waste any time trying to set up separate messes for the Brass; they would eat with everyone else. She ended up in a corner talking to some 82nd airborne troopers.  
“OK, how tough was the first battle?”

“Not as hard as we thought it would be, General. Especially once those Apaches started to rip Ivan a new one. Those paratroops were pretty good, but the locals beat them up pretty well before we got to them, and those Navy and Marine jocks sure unloaded a lot of 20MM on them.”

“How were your casualties?”

“Not bad General. We lost some but not many.” 

Liz finished and headed to the HQ tent. She walked in and looked around. There was a clump around the situation map and suddenly it parted like she was Moses before the Red Sea. She wondered if there were people shaped holes in the side of the tent since it sure emptied fast. All that was left was Jim.

Jim looked at her carefully. She did not seem mad and that was a very bad sign. The maddest he had ever seen her she had not looked angry at all.  
“Jim. You let me sleep.”

“Liz you needed it.”

“Yes I did. Now get those gomers in here; we have a campaign to finish off.”

Once they were back in the tent Liz stood up.  
“OK what happened while I was sawing logs?”

The G2 went to the map.  
“The PREPO ships have just about finished offloading the equipment. Odessa is a big port and we were able to birth all the ships at once. The 1st Cavalry expects to send out its first column at Dusk tonight. The 1st Armored will be a few hours behind. They will night march the first night and into tomorrow afternoon. Baring problems they should be 50 miles north of Odessa before they stop.”  
He then pointed towards Mariupol.  
“Before you sacked out they had landed. They are about to start moving north. The Russians tried to attack early this morning but our CAP beat them off.  
He then pointed at Kiev. “Leading Russian columns are now 70 miles from the city. At the current rate of advance they will be at the outskirts in 36 hours.”

Liz got up and looked at the map closely. She looked at the G2. “ETA on the 1st Armored and 1st Cavalry where we want them?”

“Best we can do is about 48 hours General. We will have to refuel all vehicles at least once and that will take time. There are good roads but best speed will be about 35 MPH. It is right at about 250 miles.”

Liz slowly nodded. “OK. We need to slow Ivan down. Suggestions?”

General Smith had just arrived and was looking at the map. “At Kozelets there are some bridges. If they could be dropped I think that would delay them for some hours.” Liz moved beside him and looked at it as well, then at General Briggs. “Is that a problem?”

“No General, not at all.”

“Then drop them and every bridge between there and Kiev.”

“Yes sir.”

Liz then looked around at the assembled officers. “You all know the plan; but the big movement will not be for 2 days. So go to your commands and make sure they are getting rest. Once we go no one will be getting any.”

The next two days were strangely quiet. The Russian Air Force, badly mauled, just watched over the column and the area around Kharkov. The US and Ukraine flyers just played the waiting game.

Timoshenko looked at the General. “You were supposed to be at Kiev yesterday!”

“Sir, the Americans have dropped every bridge. It has slowed us down by almost 18 hours. But we are within 25 miles of Kiev.”

“And the two American Divisions are only 25 miles from Kiev as well.”

“Then we will meet them in combat.”

“Very well.” He did not ask about Kharkov. It really did not matter. Kiev really was the key to this war.

Liz looked at the map. “How far do the Marines have to go to Kharkov?”

“They are within 50 miles of the front lines.”

She nodded and turned to Briggs. “I want a serious air bombardment of their positions before the Marines attack.”

“Yes sir.”

She then looked at the map of the Kiev area. Then at the Ukraine liaison officer.  
“Your ground forces are in position?”

“Yes general.” She nodded and looked at the map one more time. Then at the rest of the officers assembled. The tent was bulging despite being pretty big.  
“OK. It is now 0800 on August 5th. We will launch operation Kill Switch at 1900. That will allow loading at just before dusk. The 101st will be moved 300 miles to Cherkassy by 2300. Refuel and then leave at 0400 and arrive at Chernigov at around dawn. The 82nd will load at 0400 and drop at Dawn. That will be the easy part. Then the Russians will realize the plan and go nuts.”

She looked at General Dixon. “The refueling operation for hundreds of helicopters. Describe it once again.”

“We have beacons for every battalion. They will be spread out over an area of 100 square miles. We have quietly moved by truck the refueling bladders and pumps. 10 per battalion. So it should take only 90 minutes at most to refuel every battalion.” She nodded then looked at the Deputy Commander of the XVIII Airborne corps who had been tasked to plan this.

General Roy Windom knew his entire career would turn on this operation. Sink or swim. Not to mention a war depended on it. And thousands of American lives depended on it. No pressure here.

“Each Battalion will leave at 5 Minute intervals. They will stay in formation and use their running lights which will be on and blinking. They will be leaving from three separate bases. We have 10 search and rescue helicopters ready to respond. Each Battalion will have its own call sign. We will also be staggering their altitudes. From 2000 to 5000 feet. Where they are going is also figured into the plan.”

He then quickly sketched the separation factors. There were over 500 helicopters involved. The 101st like the 82nd would be going without most of its sustainment personnel. Just the sharp end of the stick. Supplies would be dropped by transport planes. 9000 men would be moving; by far the largest simultaneous Helicopter assault in history. 

Liz thought about it for the fourth or fifth time since Roy had thought it up; she had found nothing wrong with it before and didn’t now. She looked around the tent.  
“Anyone see any problems?”

There was only silence.  
“OK. Now as regards the end points?”

“Last night Special Forces parachuted in and are already where they need to be. They have beacons and radios. They will guide not only the 101st but the 82nd exactly where they need to be. Over 80 miles from the Russian forces at Kiev. And almost as far from the Border where the other Russian forces are. There is only about one battalion of Russian infantry in that immediate area and they are pretty much spread right down the road protecting the convoys.”

Liz looked at General Briggs.  
“At 0600 in the morning A-10’s with a low cover of F-35’s and a High Cover of F-22’s will go right down the highway destroying everything on it. Concentrating on fuel trucks. At the same time F-15E’s will be striking the four fuel dumps the Russians have established along the road. At that point as long as the Airborne forces can prevent any more coming, the Russian armor will be trapped. It is doubtful they can even get close to the Airborne before their fuel runs out.”

Liz nodded and looked at General Smith.

“The 1st Cavalry and 1st Armored will then move to flank the Russian forces and box them in from the side.”

Liz then moved to the map. “At that point I will free the 2 battalions of Super Apache’s and 6 Battalions of Regular Apaches to go after the Russian armor. That will be just under 200 of them hunting.”

She then looked at General Briggs again. “I expect Timoshenko to then order the Russian Air Force to do everything it can.”

He nodded. “We will be waiting, General.” 

The president of the Ukraine looked at the map then at the MOD.  
“Will it work?”

“Yes sir I believe it will.”

The President of the US looked at his SECDEF.  
“Will it work?”

“Yes sir I believe it will.”

Liz looked at her watch and heard the helicopters begin to take off. Each one separate on takeoff by 5 minutes and by altitude. She took a deep breath and walked back into the HQ tent.

“Where are they going?”

“North.”

“I know north but where North?”

“We do not know.”

“FIND OUT!” 

Hours later. “They are landing near Cherkassy, clearly meant to reinforce the Armored units they sent. That is foolish. Light units are of very little use fighting tanks.”

“She is desperate. That is good.”

Liz haunted the tent until Jim once again told her she needed to sleep. Reluctantly she went to her tent and was surprised as she fell asleep.

Jim went and hit the sack as well. Liz woke up at 0500; she was surprised but she had gotten almost 6 hours of sleep. She headed for the Operations tent.  
“How many did we lose?’

“8 Helicopters developed problems and had to land. None over the water. No injuries, no crashes.” 

Liz let out another deep breath. “No collisions?”

“None, General.”

“Otherwise?”

“82nd left on schedule one hour ago. They will be dropping in a little over half an hour. The first helicopters will be landing at their targets in about half an hour. So far no problems. The A-10’s will be starting to make their runs in about half an hour as well.”

“0600 is going to be a very busy hour. Since I know the Marines will be attacking at the same time.”

And so it went. The A-10’s ravaged the road for over 80 miles from just below the Airborne to the very edge of where the Russian tanks had massed. Hundreds of vehicles were destroyed- not a single fuel tanker was left operational. All four of the fuel dumps were destroyed by multiple hits. 2 A-10’s were hit; one was forced to eject but was rescued in minutes by one of the returning helicopters. The other made it back to its base in Poland. None of the F-15E’s were damaged; and the Russian jets that had managed to get up early were swatted like flies by the F-22’s guided by AWACS. The F-35’s had a very boring time.

President of Russia Timoshenko looked at his Defense Minister.   
“What do you mean we are defeated?”

“The Americans have destroyed not only all our fuel dumps but all the available tankers. Right now our tanks and other vehicles only have the fuel in their tanks and no more. Even if we could get more tankers through the Airborne Screen, it would be several days before they could make it. The road is strewn for 80 miles with wreckage. Our tanks are sitting targets. They have control of the air. And that is not all. Also this morning the American Marine Division began its attack preceded by a fierce air bombardment. They have already broken though; the siege of Kharkov is over.”

Timoshenko looked at the Air Force Commander. “What are you waiting for? Attack them.”

“Sir, we will lose most of the rest of our fighter and bomber strength if we do so.”

“DO it!” Then he looked at the Army Commander. “They will not retreat; they will use the rest of their fuel to attack. Attack now.”

At 0700 Liz gave the order and all the Apache’s that had moved into the area where the transport helicopters were took off; just ahead of the returning mass. They headed for the Russian tank forces.

Timoshenko stormed back into the Command room.  
“Have my orders been carried out?”

The Army commander stood up. “Just half an hour ago, the Americans had all their Apache attack helicopters assault our armored forces. We have taken very heavy losses. We might have lost as much as a third.”

The Air Force commander also stood up. “I just received a call from Air Command. If we launch our attack now, we will be outnumbered badly. They have over 400 fighters up right now. We have only 300 available to attack, of that only 200 are fighters.”

“I do not care. Attack now.”

At that moment the rest of the cabinet moved into the room.  
The Prime Minister led them.

“By unanimous vote, we have decided to end this war. Now.”

“I am the president. You will follow your orders!”

“Not any more. By a second unanimous vote, you are relieved of your office and placed under arrest for endangering the State.”

Liz looked at the communications officer then took the phone.  
“This is General Parker.”

“I am the Prime Minister of Russia. President Timoshenko has been relieved of his office. We request an immediate cease fire.”

Liz almost could not stand; she almost collapsed. Idly she looked at her watch. It was 0845, 6 August 2023. And another war was over.

“Very well Mr. Prime Minister. But I will need to consult with our Ukrainian allies.”

“Of course.”

The communications officer nodded to the President.  
“General Parker is on the line, sir. She says it is urgent.”

“General Parker. Things are still going well?”

“Mr. President, I just received a call from the Russian Prime Minister. He told me that President Timoshenko has been relieved of his office and he wants an immediate cease fire.”

The President suddenly had to sit down and did. Everyone in the room tensed.  
“I will tell my forces immediately General. My thanks to you and your people. We shall remember you.”

He then stood up. “Timoshenko has been deposed. Their Prime Minister has requested a cease fire. Get out the word that in 60 minutes there will be no more firing unless fired upon.”

Liz then picked up the command line to the Pentagon.  
“I need to talk to the President immediately.”

The President was in the situation room despite the fact that it was midnight. He turned as his aide called to him.  
“General Parker on the line sir.”

“General Parker.”

“Mr. President I was just called by the Russian Prime Minister. He told me that Timoshenko has been relieved of his office and wants an immediate cease fire. I have called the Ukrainian President and he agreed.”

The President closed his eyes and then opened them. “Congratulations General. I will try the hotline and see who answers. If we find out anything different we will let you know but as of now handle it as you see fit.” 

Liz slowly walked to the nearest chair and sat in it. All around her people were yelling and shouting and celebrating. Elizabeth Parker, Lieutenant General, US Army, Commander XVIII Airborne Corps, cried.

Liz got herself together enough to join in the celebrations; of course they were giving her way too much credit. Yes her plan had been bold and aggressive; but the Enemy had also made it pretty easy. IF they had put two more Infantry divisions watching their supply lines it could have been very hard and bloody. IF they had pushed a supporting attack straight west to meet at Kiev her plan could not have worked at all. But Liz knew she had been lucky in that her enemy had been very arrogant and overconfident and careless. Not that she was complaining.

Liz after shaking hands with just about everyone took a deep breath.  
“OK, people we still have a job to do. We must make sure all units know; and that if attacked they may respond. That road is going to have to be cleared for the Russians to leave. We need to start talking to the Ukrainians about those and other considerations. We will have to set up procedures for the Russian withdrawal.” She then looked at Jim. “What were our casualties?”

Jim Harkness was trying to get his feet back on the ground; this was an incredible moment but he had to remember that he still had a job to do. He pulled out some notes.  
“Aircraft totals: NO F-22’s or F-15E’s were lost. 25 F-35’s were lost and 14 damaged to varying degrees. 4 Super Apaches were lost; 8 Damaged to different degrees. 4 regular Apache’s lost, 5 damaged. No Little Birds were lost due to enemy fire or badly damaged. 6 Blackhawks were damaged but not destroyed. 2 Chinooks were damaged. Total personnel lost are 27 dead and 21 wounded with 3 missing believed captured.”

Liz contemplated that. Very low losses to anyone else still they hurt for a commander who up until that moment had lost very few. She made a personal vow to write a letter to the family of everyone killed. She looked up at Jim.  
“Ground Forces.”

“The 1st Cavalry and 1st Armored saw very little action; none killed or missing and only 11 wounded to various degrees, none life threatening. 10th Mountain had NO casualties, not even to accidents; but then they mostly did guard duty. 82nd Airborne took the highest casualties, almost all in the Crimea in the first battle. 81 dead, 156 wounded. 101st Airborne took only 5 dead and 17 wounded before the cease fire was declared. 1st Marine MEF did not lose any Aircraft destroyed; only 11 damaged. Their ground forces lost no tanks destroyed, 11 damaged. Other vehicle losses total 27. 29 dead or missing and 87 wounded.” He quickly checked his figures then announced.

“Total casualties in personnel are 152 dead and 292 wounded.”

Liz knew she should be joyful at the incredibly light casualties. But she could not. She could only think of the 152 families that had lost someone. She took a deep breath and looked at Jim.  
“I will need the name and address of the families of all killed. They all deserve a personal letter from me. I will also need the details of where they died and how. I want those letters to be done right.”

Jim silently nodded. This surprised him not at all. At that moment Roy stepped forward.  
“General, I agree that we need to mourn those we lost. But do not dwell on those numbers. For what we accomplished it was an unbelievably light cost.”

Liz looked at him. “I know that inside my head, Roy. It is my heart that aches for the families of those that lost their lives. They will never think the cost was light.”

At that moment her G2 spoke up. “General Parker, just got a communication from General Wallace. He says a load of Reporters are on their way and he could not stop them; orders from SECDEF to let them in.”

Liz wearily nodded. “Let him know I very much appreciate that he was able to keep them from bothering me up till now. But sooner or later we have to take on this particular pestilence.”

As a matter of fact the Media had been angry indeed about being left behind. General Wallace had blandly said that the need to keep it as secret as possible had tied his hands on the matter. And the effort to transport the troops had required the requisition of 30 747’s from the Commercial Reserve on short notice, which also had to be kept top secret. The media knew this was a crock of crap, but were smart enough not to complain as their readers and viewers would have torn them a new one. The media was slowly realizing that not a whole lot of people anywhere either trusted them or liked them anymore. They had been forced to rely upon the Press conferences at the Pentagon and at EUCOM HQ in Poland.

The president had not appeared except for the initial statement. Now that victory was assured he appeared again. He waited until 0800 ET before doing so.  
“My fellow Americans, as by now you have undoubtedly heard that this sad chapter in world history is over. The guns are silent once again. By dint of great effort and sacrifice the Military of the United States has triumphed again. The People of the Ukraine can once again live in peace. Their military despite great odds took the battle to their enemies and set the stage for our forces to finish the job. My congratulations go to every member of our Armed forces who were involved in this conflict. It was through their efforts that we were able to triumph in such a short time with such a relatively small cost. But once again we must remember that to a nation what is a small cost is not the same for that family. 152 Americans lost their lives in this conflict. Remember them while you celebrate this great victory.” He looked around and took a deep breath. That was the easy part.  
“Questions.”

“Mr. President, it seems clear that the US was not caught completely by surprise as we have confirmed that the US Navy PREPO ships left North Carolina a full five days before the conflict began. Just how much warning did we have?”

“As in the past I will not comment on intelligence matters. I will say that national intelligence agencies did manage to figure things out in enough time that we were able to respond as we did.”

“MR. President, the UN Secretary General claims that we should have contacted him before we took action. How do you respond?”

“With all due Respect to the General Secretary, I had more important things to worry about then contacting him.”

That got a few blinks around the room; it was known that the President did not like the current Secretary General, but that had been very blunt.

“Mr. President, what are your thoughts on the statement from the Ukrainian government that former Russian President Timoshenko should be tried for War Crimes?” 

“It is clear that he was the main person in the Russian Leadership that pushed for this war and wanted to continue it even after it was clear that Russia had been defeated. So I think that it is a valid question that the International War Crimes Tribunal needs to consider.”

“Mr. President, …”

And it went on for another 20 minutes before it was halted. None of the questions had been all that good; overall it was a poor performance by the Washington Press corps that even many reporters admitted.

Meanwhile at 1600, just 7 hours after the Cease Fire had been proclaimed, Liz had to give her own Press Conference. The Ukrainian government had offered her the HQ building of the Saki Naval Base for it and Liz had agreed. The General who was the official Liaison with XVIII Airborne Corps offered to ban the Reporters but Liz had smiled and said  
“NO, that will just cause more troubles down the road. I need to face them and get it over with.”

Her PR people had tried to give her a stack of prepared answers but Liz had decided against it. She had always done well before relying on her own instincts and this was no time to change.

There were exactly 200 members of the international Media in the large room when Liz entered. General Smith was the one to announce “ATTENTION.” He and the rest filed in behind Liz. She took a deep breath, knowing that without doubt there were probably more than a billion watching.

“Good Afternoon. Before going to questions, I will make a statement.

“To all those in my command, thank you. You did very well indeed. To those families that have lost a loved one, my sincere and heartfelt condolences. I have prided myself on for years not losing anyone in my command or under the protection of my command. This has been both a great and terrible experience; great in that we won; terrible in that we still lost 152 brave American servicemen. We must never forget. To the Acting Ukrainian President and his people and his military, you got a lot of the work done yourselves and never let anyone tell you different. To General Wallace, who facilitated the support and did a lot of diplomatic heavy lifting, a great thank you. To General Smith, my ground commander, for getting it done so well. To General Briggs, my Air Force commander, you made the sky’s friendly for the whole time; we did not lose one member of our ground forces or any of our helicopters to air attack. To Admiral Johnson, running the Straits of Kershekva at night and at full speed will be talked about for a long time to come. To General Dixon, who kept us fed and fueled and ready to fight, a VERY WELL DONE. To my Deputy Commander of XVIII Airborne Corps, General Windon, congratulations for planning and executing the largest heliborne assault in history and a huge key to our success. To General Harkness, my Chief of Staff, for keeping it all in gear and for forcing me to get some rest. Tired Generals make mistakes and he made sure I never got that tired. To all of my staff for their efforts; you are equally responsible for our victory. I want to thank the Government and People of Poland for giving us the bases that were so important; and the Government and People of Turkey for doing the same. Those were so very important. Now for questions.” She braced herself.

“General Parker, the Pentagon said that you had come up with the plan for the entrapment of the Russian attack force on the Ukrainian Capital of Kiev. It has been said that it was one of the most audacious and risky plans ever tried. Why did you think you needed to take that risk?”

“Conventional tactics would have been to dig in and repel attacks. That battle could have lasted weeks and cost thousands of casualties. By attacking as they did, the Russian forces left themselves open to being cut off and surrounded. I chose to take that risk rather than take the casualties.” 

“General Parker, when were you warned about a possible attack?”

“That is an intelligence matter and I will not comment on it. However it should be pointed out that the Rhetoric of the former Russian President had been consistent and harsh for over a year. History is replete with examples of nations ignoring such comments and paying the price. Europe well remembers, I believe, ignoring the rants of Adolph Hitler for far too long. He could have been stopped and marginalized; tens of millions of people could have been saved; if those in power at the time had had the courage and sense to take action. We were not going to make the same mistake twice in a century.”

“General are you comparing former president Timoshenko with Adolph Hitler?”

“There is very little resemblance outside of the fact that both started wars.”

“General Parker, your career has been remarkable. For anyone, but especially for a woman. To what do you owe your success?”

“To my mother first of all for raising me right. To my first sergeant as part of the 3rd ID, Sergeant Axton, for really counseling me. My First commanding officer, Captain Simmons, for a great example to learn from. I could go on. The friends I made who helped and encouraged me. My husband for being able to accept such a very different type of wife. My children, who have always been such a joy. The US military by and large did not try and keep me down but encouraged me. I have been incredibly lucky and clearly have enjoyed the favor of God. There are so many but those are just a few. Ask any successful person and if they are honest the answer will not be very different.”

“General Parker, what is next for you?”

“Packing up and going home.” And at that point she ended the press conference, leaving the reporters disappointed but not the audience.

She escaped and went back to the command tent. Sat down and took a long drink of water and just relaxed. A few minutes later Jim came in. The tent was empty except for them at the moment.  
“Liz, if I have not said it before I am saying it now. Thank you for pulling me along for the ride.”

“Jim you have been a vital part of our success these last 9 years. Do not sell yourself short.”

“I would have retired at Lt Colonel and not really accomplished all that much in my life but for you. No matter what you claim.”

“Now you made me blush. I guess I better relax right now, since there still is a lot to get done. Any incidents to report?”

“So far nothing concerning us. The Ukrainians have got bulldozers heading up the road to clear it out. Their Defense Minister contacted us a little bit ago. We might have to see to it that the Russians are supplied sufficiently so that they can leave. Fuel water and food.”

“Talk to General Dixon. Whatever they need us to do we do. What about the situation around Kharkov?”

“The Russians are already moving back and will be out of the Ukraine there by tonight. And the Russian commander of the center force has informed us that they have 3 of our people as prisoners of war.”

“Good. Make sure arrangements are made to get them out ASAP.”

“The Ukraine MOD would like you to visit their HQ at your convenience.”

Liz who had been relaxing with her eyes closed opened them and looked at Jim.  
“What is it about?”

“I think probably to thank you face to face.”

“OK. Set it up for tomorrow morning.”

“Oh and there is a message from the commander of the Royal Commandos. Says you could have at least let them do something.”

Liz grinned. “When you can get him on the phone. By the way, the first units out of here need to be the 160th and 161st. See to it.”

“Right.”

In the US many had been watching the Press conference. Many marveled at General Elizabeth Parker. The media made a point of going over her entire career just before the Press Conference as well.  
In Savanna, Georgia three good friends had been praying all week and had taken off from work to watch. Maria had tears in her eyes once it was done.  
“When I next talk to her I am going to try and convince her to finish it and leave. She does not need this anymore. I know just how bad the losses are hurting her.”

Isabelle nodded. “I agree. She needs to retire and settle down and just live.”

Tess sighed. “I hope so. We need to try and convince her that enough is enough.”

Other friends got together the next day for their bi weekly get together in Nashville Tennessee. It was a gloomy day but rain did not appear likely. They talked amongst themselves.

Ellen was pensive. “Think she would listen?”

Vicki was determined. “She has done enough. She could care less about a fourth star or making it to Chairman. And it would be a lot worse there since she no longer commanded anyone and had to sit through meeting after meeting.”

Jesse was hopeful. “I talked to Maria the other day. She and her oldest friends are also going to try and talk Liz into pulling the pin.”

Susan sighed. “Maybe if we all show a united front and enlist her mother as well we can pull it off. It is time Liz started living for Liz.”

Nancy cuddled with Ted and sighed after turning off the TV set. She had stayed home to watch; her boss had flat out told her to. She was going to retire that year anyway, she was already training the young woman that would be replacing her. “She looked tired. Maria called me last night and she and the others are determined to try and talk Liz into retiring. What do you think?”

“Hon, I think it is a good idea. God Knows she does not owe anyone and she should live the rest of her life as she chooses. But she might choose to stay in for a while if she thinks she can change things for the better.”

“I think I agree with Maria. I am going to ask her to really think about it; but I will not try and pressure her.”

Aliya cuddled with her husband and thought about her mother. Liz had become her real mother in every way; she barely remembered her first one. It had been a cold and bleak life which became a real life once a beautiful angel had swooped down and saved her.  
“I want to wait until she gets back to Bragg before telling her. We will be there waiting for her. You won’t have trouble getting time off?”

“Not a chance. The boss pretty much ordered me to.”

Max sat next to James as they watched the press conference. James looked up at him after it was over.  
“Mom coming home soon?

“Yeah, sport, Mom is coming home soon.” Max thought about Maria’s phone call she had made the previous night. Maria was trying to get Nancy and all of Liz’s friends to convince Liz to call it quits. He thought about that.

He did not want to pressure Liz; but he could see their point and he certainly wanted Liz home and not in danger. Able to relax and enjoy life. She was only 41 years old. She was stubborn about not dyeing her hair; that was the only way anyone would think she was that old. They had talked about it; after this she could get an advance on an autobiography that would be absolutely humungous and ensure they would never have to work again. But what would they do? He was trying to imagine Liz just sitting back and doing nothing and the image would not come. She needed to be busy. She needed something to do. Flying would be something she wanted to do; but as a job? What was there? He realized he needed to talk to the rest of them first before they descended en masse on Liz.

Elizabeth Parker’s future was also on the minds of more than a few in Washington. The Congressman had decided that enough was enough and was going to retire; Liz certainly did not need him anymore; had not for quite a while. He was quietly talking to some of his colleagues that he did not mind being with outside of the daily work. Not many of them anymore, which was another reason he wanted to call it quits.  
“So, since you know her better than anyone here, what should she do next?”

“I do not KNOW her that well, Sam. I know her really only slightly. I just happen to owe her my life and think she is the finest person I know. She has less than a year as XVIII Airborne Corps Commander. Two more years of that; she will be 43. Now the pressure to give her star number 4 will be huge and I bet that comes soon; and thus they would have to move her out of the XVIII. Though they could leave her there.”

“Frankly I would say that is the best place for her as she has shown. Outside of another world war she would be the first to go and should command anyway. Make a lot of people feel more secure.”

“You will get no argument from me. She might be the finest senior tactical commander the US Army has had since Patton.”

“You know, one of the guys I know is a military historian. He flat out told me that it is eerie how alike those two are as regards the Military. Patton was a demon for training his people and having them ready for the unexpected. So does she. Patton never made a frontal assault if he could help it; same with her. He favored movement to take your enemy off balance whenever possible; so does she. Never play defense if you can help it; same with her. And he had no patience at all with politics or the like and while she is a lot more diplomatic is the same there, too.”

“She is a LOT more diplomatic. Of course with Patton that was a low bar to hop over anyway. But there are a lot of similarities. Then again you look at the best Generals in History and a lot of them had the same traits. The best do it the same way whether it is 2023 AD or 2023 BC. What she does was talked about by Sun Tzu 2500 years ago.”

“So after XVIII with 4 stars what next? Army Vice Chief of Staff?”

“Probably. Then Chief of Staff and then Chairman. If she wants it; and I am not very sure she does. It would not totally surprise me if she retired soon.”

“You are kidding? Pass up all that?”

“Pass up all what? More meetings and politics and crap like that. All of which she hates with a passion.”

The other congressman besides the two talking was a lot younger. He had been quietly listening.  
“Any chance we could get her to run for office? You name it and she would win it in a walk.”

“About as much chance as a Vampire to sunbathe willingly.”

The President was talking to the Chairman and SECDEF.  
“There is already pressure to promote her to full General; and some are talking down the road making her the next 5 Star.”

The Chairman widened his eyes at the 5 star comment. “That was pushed around a little bit for Powell and Schwarzkopf but it died away.”

SECDEF was thoughtful. “I was just starting out in Congress when that was going on. I do not think the talk was ever that serious. But I get the feeling that this time it just might be. But then again that would be a few years down the road and baring her pulling off something like this again I doubt it would last until then.”

The President grinned. “With her record, saying she could not top something and betting on it would have been a losing proposition for at least the last 15 years.”

The Chairman grinned as well. “No argument at all on that sir. NONE at all.”

SECDEF shook his head. “Still it is something to think about. I think the pressure to promote her is going to increase hugely. And honestly it is entirely warranted. We could still keep her at XVIII for the time being until the Vice Chief of Staff moves up in a year. Put her there for a couple of years to learn the Pentagon and the like then move her to Chief of Staff. Then to Chairman.”

The current Chairman nodded. “Sounds like a plan to me.”

“What about more immediate recognition?”

SECDEF was prompt. “Presidential Unit Citation for XVIII Airborne Corps and all units that served with it. DSC for her. And then promote her as well. No one could say we were chintzy.”

The President nodded. “And a Parade in Washington DC. We did it for Desert Storm and it was nowhere near as easy and a lot more important overall.”

When informed by the President the Congressman sighed. Well they could give Liz a real nice sendoff anyway, he thought.

Totally unaware of the various plans made by others for her future, Liz got down to the grind of the details. Getting tankers to refuel the remaining Russian tanks so they could be sent home, as well as remaining vehicles. Ukraine gave permission for the Russians to send hundreds of trucks to pick up the troops that needed to be evacuated. Over the next week all this was done.

Liz looked at Jim. “OK, who has gone in the last four days?”

“160th, 161st, the Marines are loading now; the 1st Cav and 1st Armored are also loading. Most of their people not needed for it are gone or going now. 10th Mountain is gone. 101st is starting to leave. 82nd will be the last to go; they want to wait for as many of their wounded as they can. By this time tomorrow what is left will be most of the 82nd and our wounded. Now it is going to take a couple of weeks to remove the rest of our equipment and the like. General Dixon thinks he can get it done by the end of the month for sure.”

Liz nodded. Her meeting with the Ukrainian’s had indeed been a thank you more than anything else. She had to keep telling herself to not let all the praise go to her head.

Liz stretched and rubbed her eyes. “So how long before we can fold our tents and steal away?”

“No way we can steal away. Let alone not get noticed when we arrive.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Two days later Liz made the decision to bring the HQ of the XVIII Airborne Corps home; the last of the wounded was going to be transferred to Ramstein and then when possible home. The 82nd had just about left the previous day. Now only some support troops packing things up were left. The PREPO ships were on their way home; the equipment would have to be switched out and what was used refurbished.

On Friday, August 11, 2023 XVIII Airborne Corps HQ company boarded the C-17 with all their equipment; while the Command Staff boarded the C-20. Liz left the Crimea at 0900. They refuel over the Atlantic and arrive at Ft Bragg at exactly 0900 due to the strange way Time Zones work. Of course there is a band and color guards and the media. But most of all is their families. Liz is the last off the plane and comes down the stairs to cheers and music and the like. She marches to the Podium.

“XVIII Airborne Corps. ATTENTION. Well done. DISMISSED.” Then heads over to hug her Husband and children and mother and her other friends who are all there. She ignores the Media and they are driven off to the party going on at the Mess Hall. Liz stays and makes the rounds then goes off to the room that has been reserved for her and her party. Maria and Isabelle and Tess and Nancy and Ted and Max and Aliya and James and Les. Aliya then tells Liz she will be a grandmother in 6 months. By far the best news she had gotten in a very long time.

Max had talked to Maria and she in turn had talked to the others about their plan to try and convince Liz to retire. They all had to admit that he was right; so Maria ordered everyone to put on their thinking caps. When they talked to Liz they had to have a lot of options ready to go.

That night Liz and Max snuggle. She is very content.

Liz looked at the message the next day as she returned to her office.  
“A parade?”

“A parade. Right down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capital. Where you will be welcomed by a Joint Session of Congress. I imagine some medals will be passed out as well.”

Liz groaned. “And I will have to make a speech as well.”  
“Yep. This will happen in 2 weeks on the 26th of August.”

“If I remember what I saw as a kid the one they had for Desert Storm they marched in BDU’s. So we will do the same.”

The next two weeks passed by as they began to reset the table and get everyone back to where they were before they left. Liz began to quietly start to write the letters for those they had lost. She did not use a form letter, just wrote it as she felt it. She was guilty that she was glad that none of the people lost she knew, though the 101st lost some that had been there when she had been in command. The 161st had not had anyone killed and that cheered her up. Before she left that Friday for the parade, she had in two weeks gotten half of them done and mailed out. She had explained what each person had been doing when they died; and why. 

Jim felt that Liz could wait on this but knew she would not. That was just the way she was.

All across the country parents and wives and relatives began to receive letters postmarked Commanding General, XVIII Airborne Corps, Ft Bragg, North Carolina. If the person had been unmarried, she addressed it to the parents; if married to the Wife. She was quietly glad she had none that had not had either. Though sad for those close to him.

A Wife still numb from losing her husband read the letter and cried. A father tried to hold back tears and could not. A mother could not finish it the first time; nor the second time. And so went the so called low casualty list.

Liz had a meeting that evening with SECDEF before the Parade that was at noon on Saturday. She had sent out word to the units involved that they should choose who would participate. After all they could not have the whole 150,000 that had been involved. It was decided that 1000 from each of the Divisions would come; and 100 from each of the other units, and ships. So the total for the Parade would be right at 7000 or so. They would form up at Pershing Park and Liz would lead them down Pennsylvania Avenue to The Capital. She would then march up the steps and into the Capital to give a short speech to the Joint Session of Congress. She would then leave and in front of her people would be given the DSC while XVIII Airborne Corps received the Presidential Unit Citation and the Thanks of Congress. She had then asked that there be busses to pick the troops up so that they could get in out of the August sun. She had decided on her speech. 

SECDEF had been told by the President to not mention one thing that would happen. He was told to tell her that her future was laid out.  
“General Parker, just wanted to let you know that we have decided on your future.”

Liz hoisted an eyebrow. “Well I am sitting down so let fly, Sir.”

“You will be posted to Vice Chief of Staff sometime, then Chief of Staff then Chairman.”

Liz sat there and thought about that. It was not a shock now. She could see all that happening. That took care of the next 10 years or so. Guess it was nice to know. Of course the question was, did she want it? She was going to have to think about this very hard.

Liz looked up at the sky. It was a fairly cloudy day but no rain. It would be about 80 and humid, but her people would not bake in the sun. Not anywhere near as bad as it could have been. So her luck was still holding. She looked around at the HQ Company. They with her would lead off the Parade. Right behind the XVIII Airborne Corps Color Guard. Right behind her would be Jim and Roy. Then the rest of the staff and HQ Company. Then after that the 82nd AB, The Marines, Navy, 101st, Support Troops, 10th Mountain, 1st Cav and the Air Force, the SOAR’s and then 1st Armored. Their commander had asked to be tail end Charlie. Liz asked him why.  
“We get to stay in the shade longer.” 

Liz had ordered that the 82nd start the rest of the parade due to the fact that they suffered the most casualties. After that she had the senior officers draw numbers for who went where. 

Liz received the signal and ordered the Color Guard to uncase and march. And her right behind them.

On TV once again the commentators remarked on how tiny Elizabeth Parker was.

At a steady march it took them about 15 minutes. Liz marched up to the Podium that was empty and reviewed her people as they marched by and then formed up. It took almost an hour for them all to march in and form up. Then she ordered  
“XVIII AIRBORNE CORPS. AT EASE.” Then marched into the Capital.  
She waited outside the door as the Sergeant At Arms announced her.  
“General Elizabeth Parker.”

She marched into a standing ovation. The Speaker announced that she and the XVIII Airborne Corps and all who fought with them had the Thanks of Congress and the American People. Liz then moved to the microphone.

“On the behalf of all those that fought with us; and those that cannot be here today; and those that we lost I thank you. There has been more than enough praise for anyone but the thanks of Congress means a lot to all of us. Now my people are standing outside in the heat and I want to set them loose. Thank You once again.” They then stood and applauded as she marched down the aisle and out the door.

She marched down the steps to the assembled troops and took her place in front as the Members of congress streamed out and gathered on the Capital Steps. Then The President came through and Liz called for “ATTENTION” as Hail to the Chief was played and the President came to the podium. Then the National Anthem was played and suddenly hundreds of helicopters and Fighter Jets flew over the city in tight formations. Liz was surprised at this; they had managed to keep that secret from everyone, including her. Still she thought it was a nice touch. Then the president gave a short speech thanking all who had fought. Then

“General Elizabeth Parker.” And she marched up to the podium. The President put the DSC around her neck as the Citation was read; then the Presidential Unit Citation was read. Then came the unexpected. While Liz stayed at attention the President Pro Tempore of the Senate came forward.

“Mr. PRESIDENT. The Senate of the United States of America, with the unanimous approval of The House of Representatives, has this day by unanimous vote approved your nomination of Lieutenant General Elizabeth Parker to the rank of FULL GENERAL of the United States Army, effective this date.” Then he and the President took off the 3 stars and put on 4 stars and Liz managed to not fall over in shock.

Then Jim Harkness yelled. And the entire group yelled as well and then threw their hats into the air. 7000 and more hats went flying. It looked very impressive on TV. 

That night at the White House a formal ball was given for the XVIII Airborne Corps. Liz had to scramble to get the stars to complete her Mess Dress Class A uniform. She looked around and thought for the hundredth or so time how had she ever gotten to this point.

THE END.


End file.
